Infinite Madness
by BlazingPhoenix17
Summary: Nobody knows why the Infinite Stratos technology refuses to recognize males as adequate pilots for its mechs, not even the inventor. Quantum tech is strange like that. But a random event in a storeroom at the IS Academy takes this long held rule and throws it right out the window. The cost is very high though, especially for the poor sucker who's dragged into this female madhouse.
1. Chapter 1 Luck and Circumstance

Infinite Madness

Chapter 1

Luck and Circumstance

A bright flash of light raced across the dark room, nearly blinding the three people standing within. Loud mechanical whirring noises sounded from the source of the light, the large device unfolding and growing taller as it activated. The two security guards who had come in investigating a suspicious sound gaped in shock as they saw the previously inactive mechanized armor stand up and open up its hatch for its new pilot.

This by itself would not have been too much of a shock for them, as they had known this particular Infinite Stratos mech was fully combat capable and was in storage waiting for delivery. What surprised them was the person who had activated it. They both stared at the young teen that stood close to the machine, mystified as to how this was possible. "Did he just activate the IS?" one of the guards asked aloud.

"But that's impossible," her partner replied. "No male has ever been able to pilot an IS before. It shouldn't be responding to him."

For his part the boy was completely still, seemingly just as startled by the event as they were, but that was only part of his confusion. While he was staring at the mech in just as much awe as the two women behind him, the reason for his reaction delved far deeper than the impossibility of his gender. In fact, young Frank Martin didn't hear the guard's conversation at all, as his brain was moving on its own track trying to justify the sight before him.

_What's going on here? Where am I? What is that thing doing?_ Frank's hand fell to his side as his computations ran their course. _Okay, this thing is definitely some kind of machine, but I've never seen or heard anything like it before. Therefore it must not be real. I must be dreaming._ This thought calmed the boy immensely, and he felt his shoulders loosen as he smiled. _A dream with a mech in it. That's new._

A hand clamped down and Frank's shoulder and flipped him around, alerting the boy to the fact that two other people were in the room. Some small part of Frank's mind wondered at fact that both guards, and they were obviously guards with their stark white uniforms and matte black batons, were women, but he wrote that off as his subconscious lust talking. _Hopefully this won't try to be a wet dream. Those always fail miserably for me._

The lecherous thoughts faded as he heard one of the guards ask, "Did you activate that IS?"

Frank's eyebrows twitched up at this. "I guess," he responded hesitantly. "But what's an IS anyways?"

Both women stared at him in bewilderment, one of them managing to stutter out, "How can you not know that? Infinite Stratos mechs are the most important technology ever invented."

One of them scrutinized him further and suddenly shouted, "You're Ichika Orimura! Chifuyu's younger brother! She was one of the best IS pilots ever. There's no way you couldn't know about IS's."

Frank, understandably freaked out by the women's outburst, cried out, "I have a sister?"

The guards gazed at him in concern now, his lack of knowledge beginning to worry them. The one on the left, who's name tag said Tamicha, swiveled back and forth between the large mech standing at idle and the confused young Frank, as if some idea was beginning to form from them. A look of realization appeared on her face as she turned to her partner and said, "He must have amnesia. Maybe activating the IS messed with his memories or something."

The other woman, Ramina by name, looked to Frank and asked, "Do you know who are?"

Frank looked back at the two women and realized with horror that he was not dreaming. No dream of his was ever this coherent. _This is real._ Thinking quickly, Frank decided to save the truth of his knowledge until he found someone in a position of authority, so that maybe he could find a way back home before this waking nightmare could continue. "I guess not. I mean I don't even know where we are. Or how I got here. Or what that thing is. Or why we are still standing here since you now know I know nothing."

Tamicha gaped at Frank in confusion, but Ramina nodded in comprehension and said, "Come on. Let's get him to Chifuyu. She's closest."

With that, the two guards gently guided Frank out into the corridor and marched him down the hall, leaving the mech behind them in stasis. Frank used this time to try and piece together what had happened to him. Looking back at his last memories he searched for anything out of the ordinary, a headache, an upset stomach, a weird rash. He didn't know! Sadly nothing came to mind, and Frank was completely stumped. _Maybe it's just bad luck. _He snorted at that. _Bull. Fucking. Shite! Bad luck does not _begin_ to describe this._ He sighed in resignation and gave up on trying to make sense of anything regarding his apparent universe swap.

As he continued down the hallway following the two guards, he thought back to what they had said about the machine he had appeared in front of. Something about an 'IS' and mechs and impossible activation… something. Frank couldn't help but wonder why they would name the world's most advanced weapon system after a Soviet heavy tank from WW2. _They should have used a German name. German is an awesome language._

Frank was jolted from his thoughts as the two guards knocked on a door and ushered themselves in. As the boy entered he noticed the large floor to ceiling windows lining one side, giving the room's occupants an unobstructed view of the city beyond. This proved to be worthless though as Frank didn't recognize any of the architecture, so he still had no idea where he was. The room itself was very spartan, with only a single desk and some chairs sitting in front of it. The person behind the desk was holding most of Frank's attention. The apparent owner of this office was a young woman with shiny black hair hanging down past her shoulders and had a stare of such intensity that Frank swore it could burn through steel. Gulping loudly as he entered the two guards gently pushed him forward until they were standing right in front of the desk. Ramina stepped up and leaned forward, her hands cupped in some odd gesture. "Miss Orimura, forgive us for disturbing you, but we thought it best to come to you immediately."

The woman nodded sternly and turned to Frank, who felt himself wilting under her glare. "And just what trouble did my brother get into this time?"

_This is my sister? Damn I really wish she wasn't. _His eyes subtlety shifted down his sister's frame. _For more reasons than one._

Tamicha shook her head and replied, "No trouble, or at least nothing dangerous, but he's done something that should be impossible. He activated an IS we had in storage down the hall."

There was a brief flash of shock on Miss Orimura's face as she digested this news, then her face returned to its impenetrable mask. "Are you certain of this?"

Both women nodded in affirmation while Ramina said, "Yes ma'am. We saw him do it. He was the only one in the room besides us, and it only activated when he touched it."

Orimura appeared to ponder this for several moments before turning to Frank again and asking, "Any idea how this could have happened Ichika?"

Frank angled his head in confusion. "Ichika? Who's that?" The boy paused as his brain caught up with him and he realized, "Wait is that supposed to be my name? Does that mean I'm Japanese?"

This time the confusion and concern on Miss Orimura's face stayed a great deal longer and her voice carried a hint of worry as she said, "What? Ichika what happened?"

Tamicha stepped up and said quickly, "We think he may have amnesia, possibly from activating the IS. We have no idea how he did it so anything is possible."

Orimura stared hard at Frank, who again felt far too exposed under her stare for his liking, before she turned to the guards and ordered, "Go and inform the school board of what has occurred, but leave Ichika here. I need to find out how much he remembers."

The two women nodded and swiftly left the room, closing the door loudly as they left. A small part of Frank wished he were going with them, and not staying here to be further scrutinized by the scary lady behind the desk. Sighing, Frank turned and sat in one of the chairs at a gesture from Miss Orimura, trying to bite down his fear of the unknown. The two sat in silence for some time, Frank desperately resisting the urge to squirm. He really didn't like how this intimidating woman was staring him down, as if daring him to slip up.

Eventually Frank couldn't stand it anymore and said, "Well, this is awkward isn't it?"

The woman, whose name Frank recognized as Chifuyu from the name plate on her desk, narrowed her eyes at him even further until they were barely more than slits. _Is she part cat or something?_ Then the woman spoke, saying, "You're not Ichika, are you?" When Frank started rubbing his hair awkwardly in embarrassment she said, "Even if Ichika were to lose his memory, he would know better than to try and be cheeky with me. You, however, don't seem to care. So who are you, and why are you in Ichika's body?"

Frank stared at her in bemusement and responded, "Straight to the point eh? Guess there's no fooling you about me not being your brother. Oh well. Perhaps it's for the best." Frank cleared his throat and said, "My name is Frank Martin. I'm 16 years old and I have absolutely no idea how I got here. One moment I was asleep, the next I'm standing in front of this huge machine that stands up all on its own out of nowhere. No explanation at all." He paused to check Chifuyu's reaction but her face remained blank. A bit nonplussed at the granite woman he was speaking with Frank said, "My guess is something happened when your brother touched that mech that caused me to be brought here. Scientifically that should be impossible, but the universe sometimes likes to do its own thing, regardless of our puny human science. So yeah, that's me and why I'm here, though I don't think either of us are ever going to be happy with that answer for very long."

Chifuyu remained silent for some time, alternatively staring at Frank and weirding him out in the process or at one of the pictures on her desk. Finally she leaned back in her chair; her mind apparently made up, and started speaking. "So in summary: My brother touched an IS, which caused it to activate, and by some bizarre happenstance removed him from his body and replaced his mind with yours. You arrived, having no prior knowledge of these events and were immediately taken to my office. Is that correct?"

Frank found he could do little but nod.

Chifuyu pursed her lips and said, "Were I anyone else, or you for that matter anyone else, I would say you are lying through your teeth or just plain insane for trying to give out such a cock bull story. Unfortunately for me, and fortunately for you, I am me. Someone who has seen the world change multiple times, and even been the source of that change more than once. Were I just about anyone else on the planet, I would not believe you. But I do. So no matter how weird this story of yours may sound, right now it's the only thing that makes sense. With that in mind, let's talk about your future."

Frank tried to hold in his sigh of relief but failed. The fact that he didn't have to spend the next few hours or days trying to prove himself was a major boon. He kept silent though, waiting to hear exactly what his new sister had in mind for him.

Chifuyu leaned back forward, grabbing a pile of documents from her desk and started flipping through them as she spoke. "Despite the fact that I believe your story, it would be safe to assume that very few other people would. Even if they don't believe that though, there remains the fact that you are now in the place of someone who did not have the easiest of lives anyway. You being my sibling already put you in danger in the past, and now you being the world's very first male IS pilot does not make things any easier. As it stands you are going to be a very likely target for multiple terrorist groups and corporations around the world, which means we have to find a safe place for you to stay while we figure this out. The best answer in this case would be to enroll you as a student here at the IS academy so that you can learn how to be an IS pilot. Even a short time learning how to use an IS would make you immune to most forms of attack by default. While here at the school you should be safe from most threats as well as within easy access of me at any time, seeing as I'm one of the school administrators."

Frank just kept nodding his head as his mind ran into overdrive. _I can't believe this! Not only am I apparently stuck in this new… place, but now I find out that me simply being here makes me a target. On the plus side, it seems like I get to pilot that mech I saw back there, and if anything could be more awesome than that, I can't really think of it. _The now excited boy sat up in his chair and asked, "What sort of things would I be learning here at school?"

Chifuyu cracked a slight smile and her tone descended into an even deeper deadpan than before. "The IS Academy offers the very best in education in training of IS pilots for students from all over the world. While studying at the Academy students will be taught the basics of piloting there is, tactics and strategies for use in battle, as well as the various rules and regulations that apply in the sports and tournaments available to graduates." The older woman smirked to herself as she said, "I knew there was a reason they had us memorize that stupid speech. In short kid, this school will teach you how to use your IS to best of its ability, which would put you many miles ahead of just about any modern military on the planet. Sound good to you?"

Frank sat with his mouth hanging open as he absorbed this. When he eventually regained control of himself he stammered, "So I'm going to learn how to be a super badass mech driver?" At Chifuyu's answering nod Frank leapt out his chair with a very loud whoop. "Oh YES! This is so awesome I can't even put it into words. This just… YES!"

Chifuyu seemed very surprised at Frank's outburst, her hands on the arms of her seat in preparation to stand. She thought better of it though and relaxed into her chair. "Well, that certainly wasn't the reaction I was expecting. I'm glad I don't have to waste time convincing you." Her voice turned serious now as she said, "Now we have to talk about hiding just who you are. The two guards who escorted you here seem to be under the impression that you have amnesia, which is just about perfect all things considered. If anyone asks about your past, just tell them that you have no memory of your life before touching the IS. Not your name, not your family, nothing. Got that?"

"Yes," Frank said soberly. Then his tone lightened considerably as he leaned back in his chair. "Really this sounds like we don't need to worry too much huh?"

Chifuyu furrowed her brow a bit. "There is still a problem though."

"Really? What?"

"Your personality. You have no way of knowing this, but you are very different from Ichika in a lot of ways. You're loud, outgoing, snarky, and appear to have very little respect for authority." Frank didn't know whether to laugh or wince at the description. "Anyone who knows Ichika at all will recognize the difference in a heart beat."

Frank's shoulders slumped at that. If what she was saying was true, then he might have to pretend to be someone else in order to hide who he was.

He need not have worried though because Chifuyu immediately said, "It shouldn't be too much of an issue though. Thankfully for you, Ichika only really has one good friend at the moment, and he will not be at the IS Academy to recognize you. Your other friends were from your childhood several years ago and it's very unlikely you'll meet either of them here."

Pleased at his new sister's words, Frank let out a sigh of relief. He had little time to relax though as the phone on Chifuyu's desk rang. She picked it up promptly and answered, "Yes? Mr. Chan. Yes I have him here. Yes, I have confirmed his loss of memory. Total sir. Ho doesn't even remember who I am. Sir, I recommend… Exactly sir. No I have not confirmed his ability. A test? Are you sure that's… Very well sir, I shall bring him immediately. Goodbye Mr. Chan."

Frank had tried to follow the conversation as best he could, and the glimpses he got worried him. _A test? What test? Does she mean an IS? She can't seriously expect me to pilot one of those mechs now does she?_

As soon as Chifuyu had hung up the phone she had stood up and moved toward the door, motioning for Frank to follow. "Come on. They'll be ready in a few minutes."

_Gulp. _Frank followed her out of the office hesitantly, asking, "Who will be ready?"

"The Board of Administrators. They'll want to see proof that you can pilot an IS before letting you into the school. You're actually a bit lucky. Most students have to wait until the year has started to take their pilot's test. You'll be able to get your placement right away."

Frank felt a pang of fear spear through him. He was going to have to pilot an advanced mech with absolutely no training. _This will be just fantastic._ He was determined to hide his fear though, so he asked another question. "What do you mean by placement?"

Chifuyu kept on walking, her pace brisk as they turned down a new hallway. "Each student at the Academy has a rank based on their year and skill level. Each year has three ranks, and every time a student graduates to the next year they gain three ranks so they remain at the same level in regards to their peers. Initial rank is determined by a test given during the first few days of school. Their performance in the test is evaluated and their rank, 1-3, is given. Rank 1 students are those who have very little natural talent as a pilot or those who have yet to discover it. They are therefore put in classes with heavier focus on theory."

She paused for a moment as they reached an elevator and climbed in. Frank briefly saw that they were on the top floor of this building before Chifuyu pushed the ground floor button and lead them down. "2nd rank students are those who have shown basic understanding of the IS and know how to perform basic maneuvers, such as walking and fighting during the test. These make up the bulk of the students here and have a mix of practical and theoretical training. They are also the first rank which is allowed to practice in an actual IS on the training fields."

The elevator arrived and the two siblings stepped out into a new hallway. "3rd rank students are top of the year. These students have shown great skill in handling there is and succeeded in battle against an instructor. These are the rarest students, usually no more than 5 per year, and their focus is heavily around physical training in the IS itself, with some more advanced battle theory and tactics taught in the classes. 3rd ranks are also the only students in the first year who have constant access to the training fields unless it interferes with the upper year classes and can use some of the school's better amenities."

Frank silently absorbed all of this information, wondering which rank he was going to be. He hoped he could avoid making such a fool of himself that he would end up as a rank 1, because that sounded like it would be both boring and hard work. He silently admitted that he would probably just be a rank 2, though he held out a silent hope that he could pull some bassassitude out of his ass and make it to rank three. _Oh come on, how likely is it that I could master the movements fast enough to use _that _to my advantage? _He hid these thoughts under yet another question, asking with some real curiosity, "What kind of amenities do you mean?"

As Frank asked his question the two travelers found themselves outside and walking away from the cluster of buildings that apparently made up the main campus.

"Rank 3s and upper year students can access several different entertainment or relaxation options that the Academy provides due to the increased physical strain of pilot training. These range from an arcade and pool hall to a private sauna."

Frank was practically salivating at the idea of a practically personnel arcade, though Chifuyu seemed to get the wrong impression. "You should know that you wouldn't be allowed in the sauna for some time even if you earn 3rd rank."

Confused, Frank nearly lost his step and had to jog for a moment to catch back up to the ebony haired woman. "How come?"

Chifuyu scoffed and continued on, ignoring Frank's near slip. "Because I'm not going to be letting a boy run around a sauna built for women."

Frank returned the scoff, annoyed that his sister had so little faith in him. "So I would be seeing them in their swimsuits. Big whoop. I could easily get the same effect walking on the beach."

Chifuyu rolled her eyes at this and said, "You are obviously not from Japan or you would know better. No one wears swimsuits in sauna around here _baka_."

The young boy in Frank blushed as he realized what a problem that would be. "Oh right. I guess that I am a bit of an idiot for not remembering that huh?"

If Chifuyu noticed his understanding of the Japanese word she had said, she made no showing of it. Instead she increased her pace and Frank saw that they were nearing a huge stadium that he assumed would be the place of his test. "That brings up another point I wanted to speak to you about."

Tearing his eyes away from the giant wall of concrete and steel in front of them, Frank questioned, "What?"

She paused for a moment, forcing Frank to pull up short in his walking and turn to her, wondering what was going on.

Chifuyu looked at him, her eyes guarded as she said, "You being a male is going to cause a lot of trouble, not just for your safety from outside groups, but here at school as well. I don't know you very well Frank, so I have no idea just how you will react to what is likely to happen. If you were still Ichika, then I would have almost nothing to worry about, but you are an unknown. Therefore I want you to listen very carefully to what I say right now." Frank was beginning to be seriously concerned here. "I want you to hold yourself to a high moral standard and NOT get involved with any of the girls here at school. Am I clear?"

Frank was silent for a moment, and Chifuyu wondered if she would have to pull her authority to make him accent to her command. She was stopped though when her new brother keeled over and fell flat on the ground with a soft thud. "Um, are you alright down there?"

"That's seriously what you were all worked up about just there? Honestly? The way you were talking I thought you were going to drop some serious bombshell on me. Clearly you don't know me ma'am, because if you did you would know that I have the absolute worst luck with the ladies of anyone I know, and that includes a lot of fictional characters. You don't have to worry about me initiating anything."

"It's not you I'm worried about."

"Huh?"

Chifuyu reached a hand down to help Frank up, which he gladly accepted, brushing off the dirt as best he could on the way up. "I'm not sure if you've realized this yet, but this entire school is made up nothing but girls, so the presence of a single boy in front of several hundred teenage girls is a recipe for disaster. If you show even a hint of being interested in any of them the rest will not leave you allow for a second." She sighed then said, "I just want you to be careful Frank. I was a teenage girl not to long ago myself. I know how bad complete isolation from the male populace affects a girl's mind."

Frank eyed Chifuyu carefully before nodding. "If you say so. I'll try my best to ignore any 'offers'. But if I do fall in love with someone – as unlikely as that is – can I be free to act how I want from there?"

Now it was Chifuyu's turn for silence as she contemplated his request. "Alright. I suppose that would be acceptable, as long as you can prove that you are actually in love with her. Do that, and you can do whatever you want. Within reason of course."

Frank smiled and nodded at that, and the two Orimura's started walking towards the stadium again. As they did, a though occurred to Frank that he soon vocalized. "So this entire school is nothing but girls right?"

"Correct."

"And they are romantically starved due to the lack of guys to date right?"

Chifuyu was glaring at him now as she said, "What are you suggesting?"

"Oh nothing," the boy said as he shrugged his shoulders. "I just think that there is a very real chance that the girls would search out another outlet for their frustrations. That's all."

Narrowed eyes stared back at him when Frank risked a glance. "Is there a problem with that Mr. Orimura?"

"Oh no. No problem at all. I just can't help but wonder how many of the girls indulge themselves in such a manner. I might be remiss to say this, but my personnel estimate would be 40% or more."

"40 perc… that's ridiculous!" Chifuyu exclaimed as she voice rose an octave above its usual deadpan.

Frank raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Oh is it? Tell me, what's the national average here in Japan."

Chifuyu actually sputtered a bit before saying loudly, "I don't know what it is off the top of my head, but I know for certain it is not nearly that high."

His inward smile grew in proportion to Chifuyu's rising voice. He knew quite well that the number he'd suggested was utter BS, but it was an awesome way to mess with his new sister. Another thing about Frank that Chifuyu was clueless about was his habit of trolling his siblings horribly. He suspected that his usual tricks would not work very well on an adult female, but it wouldn't be to hard to a new set of buttons to push. _With that in mind…_ "If you're so sure you're right, care to make a wager on the subject?"

Chifuyu turned and stared at Frank, as if measuring just where to strike him to cause the maximum pain possible. "What kind of wager?"

Frank's smile now appeared on his face as he explained, "If I can prove that 2 or more out of every 5 girls in this school either prefers or is amicable to dating another girl, then I win. If I cannot find proof of this by the end of the year, or if you can find proof that the number is less than 40%, then you win. Winner can force the loser to do any one task they want, so long as the task does not require any sort of injury or possibility of harm." Chifuyu seemed surprised at how properly Frank had stated the terms, if the lack of his being punched in the face was any indicator. "So, you in?"

Silence reigned for several minutes as the stadium before them continued to approach. Frank snuck several glances at the woman next to him, a slight smirk on his face as he walked. Just as they reached the entrance though she finally cleared her throat and said, "Fine. I accept your terms. Only because I know that you will lose. Anyway we're here, so get ready." With that she lead him into the stadium. After walking around the concourse for a while they reached another set of elevators to take them up to the second level.

When the doors opened a middle age man with sharply cut hair and a well-made black suit met them. Frank tried his best to look friendly and said, "Mr. Chan I presume."

The man looked startled for a moment, but swiftly recovered and held out his hand. "Yes, well observed. I am Hue Chan, current leader of the Infinite Stratos Administration Board and, to borrow the British term for it, Headmaster of the IS Academy. Normally I wouldn't be personally attending a student's placement test, but I think we all know why I am doing so now. Young man, we are expecting a lot from you. Be sure not to let us down."

Though he could feel the pressure begin to build up on his shoulders, Frank steeled himself and said, "Sure thing sir. I'll try not to trip over my own feet."

Chan nodded and waved goodbye as he walked into the elevator, presumably to some observation level to watch his test. Once the doors closed Chifuyu lead him into a large room that had two massive doors that appeared to open up on the stadium. In the center of the room was an IS, one which looked significantly different from the one he'd seen in the storeroom.

It had a simply gray and white color scheme, but was very radical aside from that. Despite being heralded as the most advanced system in the world, it looked less like a suit of battle armor and more like a bunch of metal limbs loosely connected together that had wing-like growths for some reason. The whole set up reminded Frank a lot of the second heartless boss from Kingdom Hearts, Guard Armor or something like that. "Um, are you sure it's supposed to look like that?"

Chifuyu strode past him to a console sited behind the IS, mockingly calling back to him, "As one of the head instructors of the IS Academy and an experienced pilot in my own right… Yes. That's what they look like."

Frank rolled his eyes and walked closer, circling round the mech and eying the very thin looking back plate. "If this thing is supposed to be powered armor, then why the hell is there no covering for the pilot in the middle? Wouldn't you be exposed to almost any attack launched at you?"

Frank heard a sigh from behind him as Chifuyu entered a series of commands on the console. "The IS doesn't protect you with physical armor baka. It projects an invisible energy shield that deflects and absorbs any harmful energy, either kinetic or plasma, that it encounters. Now get in so we can start it up."

Shaking his head to hide his laughter at Chifuyu's obvious annoyance, Frank walked up a small set of stairs set behind the IS and climbed into the leg slots. As soon as he did he felt the insides of the leg armor latch onto his clothes and press up against his skin, locking deep into place. He looked over his shoulder and asked, "Uh, should I be wearing regular clothes for this?" The clacking of keys on the console stopped. "Chifuyu?"

"It's fine Ichika, just place your arms in the gauntlets."

Frank was silently thankful of the fact that his shirt had short sleeves. Ignoring his concern for his pants, _these are some nice pants damnit,_he plunged his arms into the rest of the armor and felt another clench and winced as he felt the hairs on his arms tingle uncomfortably. Once that was over though he tried flexing his arm and felt a massive influx of strength. He experimentally swung his arms around and was surprised at how intuitive it felt. More confident now, he took several steps forward, extremely happy at the ease with which he could do so. He smiled with glee and tried a small jump. Small being relative as he flew up over 3 meters, nearly scraping the ceiling as he did so.

"Watch what you're doing Ichika!"

"Sorry." Properly chastened, Frank decided to save the strength tests for outside, and instead adopted a fighting stance and threw punches as fast as he could. He laughed proudly at the speed and power of his blows, imagining them demolishing a building in just a few seconds. "This is too awesome."

Chifuyu had been quiet for the duration of his exercise, though the look in her eyes was slightly lighter than before, which was encouraging. "If you're done fooling around we can start the test."

Fully secure that he was ready for the conflict ahead, Frank whipped up a salute and exclaimed, "All set ma'am!"

"Very well then." A few typed commands later the doors opened, a flood of sunlight nearly blinding Frank for a moment before a Heads Up Display appeared before him and automatically shaded his eyes. After regaining his sight he took a moment to familiarize himself with the HUD, analyzing the data presented in various organized boxes. He had no clue what most of them were saying but one had a curved colored bar circling an icon of his mech, which he guessed that it represented his health or armor or something. Everything else was so much gibberish as far as he cared. He turned back to Chifuyu, who nodded in confirmation and he ran out into the stadium beyond.

* * *

><p>Asuka Belvara was having an absolutely horrible day so far. Waking up to an extremely loud alarm clock blaring in her ears started everything off terribly, which wasn't helped by her rolling off her bed in sleepy confusion. After that things continued to trend downhill, as the hot water in her shower ran out in seconds, the toaster died in the middle of making her toast, the paper was missing from her front door, and her hair had decided that today was the day of its armed uprising against her scalp.<p>

Taking nearly twice as long as usual to recover from her awful morning, Asuka finally managed to escape her flat at half past 9, a full hour late for her meet up with her friends. She consoled herself that they would understand and managed to get to the mall in fairly decent time, skirting around the traffic snarl that normally affected her commute to work. The bad day hit her again with a fury though when she found out that her friends were no longer at the mall. One of them had managed to get tickets to her favorite band, (not Asuka's, thank God) and they had left early to get decent seats. Meaning she was alone for the rest of her Saturday. Normally this would be annoying but manageable for the young woman. She was used to being alone after all and had previously had plenty of fun on such days. Today was not one of those days and Asuka found herself in dire need of support from her friends to make up for her shit day so far.

Loneliness didn't have long to sting her though as she received a call from her work to come in for an emergency pilot test. Her groan drew several annoyed stares but she couldn't bring herself to care at the moment. This was the last week of her summer vacation and here they were bringing her in early. It was probably some whiney national representative wanting to get an early placement so she could lord it over her fellow students. God how she hated teenagers!

The only reason she dealt with being an instructor was so that she could continue to use an IS. Apparently there wasn't room in her national team back in Germany to go on the professional circuit, despite the fact that she could personally kick the asses of almost half of the current roster by herself. Asuka secretly blamed her mother for keeping her from being officially recognized. The 'wondrous woman' just had to insult everyone who wasn't in her intelligence range, which sadly covered about 99% of the human population. It didn't matter to most that she was Germany's best IS designer and engineer. To them she was an arrogant bitch who sadly had the brains to back up her boasts. Friends Asuka's mother does not make.

Asuka felt herself growling at the thought of her mother, the sound growing deeper as she plowed her way through midday traffic to the IS Academy. As she got closer though her mood began to brighten as she remembered just what made being the top instructor worth it. She would be able to pilot an IS again after nearly two months away on vacation. She laughed to herself as she neared the school, noting the irony that her 'vacation' actually forced her away from the thing she loved most in the world. It was necessary, however, because as wonderful as the IS was, it didn't fully make up for all of the crap teenage crap that she had to deal with. The way some of those girls acted, you'd think they thought it was all one big slumber party with all the effort – or lack thereof – they put into their learning. Still, this was just a pilot test, so all she had to do was fly her mech and kick some ass. She was hesitant to dare and be happy on a day like today, but she couldn't help but smile as she got closer and closer to the only love in the world.

She arrived, miraculously, only ten minutes after her call and immediately made her way to the training stadium. With the school year approaching and the IS competitive season done for the year, the huge parking lot that was reserved for visitors to the matches was completely barren, allowing Asuka to get a wonderful parking spot next to the entrance. As the call was an emergency, Asuka made her way immediately to her garage slot, not taking the time to grab a pilot suit to change into. As soon as she entered her launch room she leaped into her IS and started the prep sequence, thankful for what little luck she had today that she was wearing shorts and a t-shirt instead of something fancy. The final part of the checklist was completed and the doors opened before her. Asuka paused, taking a deep breath and feeling the joy of the moment before plunging out the door at high speed.

She flew up to the very top of the stadium, relishing the freedom and power flowing into her. Ah, it was glorious, unlike anything Asuka had ever experienced anywhere else in her life. Every bad thing that had happened to her today evaporated as she let herself be consumed by unrestrained joy.

Her euphoria was cut off as her comm. unit beeped, reminding her that she was here to work. When she answered the call an image of Mr. Chan appeared on her HUD, her distant superior wearing a brilliant smile on his face. _A genuine smile, not that political mask he wears for the cameras. This must be really important for him. _"Hello Mr. Chan. Nice day isn't it? So, who's but am I kicking today?"

Chan laughed and replied, "Someone very special Miss Belvara. Someone very special indeed. Your job, should you choose to accept it," (Chan was a big spy fan, and was a religious follower of James Bond), "is to take this pilot and push them to their limits. We need to see just what they are capable of. Don't pull any punches. Give them your very best. And don't be afraid to have some fun with it. Good luck."

Asuka smiled confidently as she signed off. "Let's hope I can get some sir. We day has been kind of sucky till now. Over and out." Now focused on the job at hand, Asuka turned and made her way over to the other end of the field searching for her opponent. After spotting her, Asuka's imagination started dreaming up possibilities as to who they were and why Asuka was needed to test her. As head instructor for the Academy, Asuka was only called out to administer pilot tests when the prospective pilot was either A) very, _very _good, or B) they were somewhere above decent and needed a lesson in humility.

As the red-haired German approached she took the opportunity to study her target. The girl was in a standard practice IS, an old but powerful generation 1 juggernaut that could dish out some heavy punishment when allowed. It was very outdated and had been phased out of active use years ago, but they still did some good work here at the Academy, preparing students for the more advanced IS's they would eventually use.

Asuka's own IS was a Gen 2 Standard Model, a French design that she had fully customized in a bright red and white paint scheme. One of the most heavily produced designs in the world; the SM was a versatile, rough-and-tumble mech that was the ultimate J.O.A.S. (Jack Of All Stats). Extremely modular, the design could be modified to fit nearly any role and in the hands of a skilled pilot it could be absolutely deadly. Asuka personally favored a mix of high speed and defensive ability, eschewing heavy firepower for improved handling and precision. It was a difficult variety to master, but it had paid dividends for her in the past.

Sadly Asuka would not be allowed to use most of this capability in her fight today. All IS's used during tests had limiters built in to keep novice pilots from going out of control. She sighed, resigned to what was likely to be another sad note in an already disappointing day.

She flew closer, and was rather surprised to see how fast the trainee was moving in her IS. _She must already be set to level 2. They have a lot of faith in her if she enters the arena with that level of freedom. _Surprised and pleased, Asuka kept her approach as silent as possible. The trainee wasn't fooled and instantly turned around to face her. Oddly enough the pilot had only a helmet covering up her face, a curiosity Asuka had not encountered before. _Perhaps she wants to hide her identity until after the test, keep me as impartial as possible._ Reassured, Asuka began to move closer when the girl yelled out in a synthesized voice, "These things can fly too? Oh this is just too awesome!"

Asuka was surprised to say the least. _She doesn't even know that an IS can fly? Jeez where the hell did they find this rookie? Mars?_ She smiled politely and called back, "Yes, they most definitely can fly. You can too. You just have to know how it's done. What's your name?"

The girl turned away and said, "I'm not supposed to say."

Asuka nodded, understanding it as part of the ploy, and studied her opponent. Rarely for a standard IS, the girl's body was completely covered by a metal exoskeleton, no doubt to continue the effect of keeping her in the dark. Well it was certainly working. Asuka had no clue what body type the girl in front of her had. Funnily enough the armor was shaped somewhat in the likeness of a boy, though she guessed that it was all part of the plan. She decided to indulge the Admins for now and asked, "Well trainee, are you ready to begin your test?"

The girl nodded and said loudly, "Hell Yeah! Let's do this!"

Asuka's smile broadened as she settled onto the ground, her wings folding up to save space. "Very well. We shall start with hand-to-hand combat on the ground only." Close quarter fighting without weaponry was very rare for use in a test, but Chifuyu had requested it of her in the call, so she would oblige her.

A computerized hologram appeared between the two pilots, slowly counting down from ten. Asuka used the time to study her opponent's stance. The girl held her arms loosely at her sides, but Asuka could tell she was not relaxed at all. The trainee's body was poised to strike out in any direction, a defensive stance that the German recognized very quickly. _So, this girl has some martial arts training huh? Well let's just see how much she knows. _With both mechs' limiters in place the two normally very different IS's were frozen at the same ability level, so that testing would be based around the pilot's skills and talent rather than the capabilities of the machine.

As the clock round down to zero, Asuka readied herself in a runner's position, prepared to pounce as soon as the match started.

DING! The bell sounded and Asuka raced forward, attempting to catch her opponent off guard with pure speed. The tactic failed though as the trainee leaped over the coming attack and angled herself to strike as Asuka passed under her. Surprised, but not alarmed, Asuka easily rolled out of the way, allowing the younger girl to waste her punch on the empty ground below. With her adversary firmly distracted with their mistake, Asuka leaped back at her and launched the larger IS away with a strong kick. The trainee flailed helplessly for several meters before regaining control and landing on her feet. Impressed, the red-haired instructor settled back, letting the rookie take the lead for now.

The girl wasted no time, barging forward with what appeared to be reckless abandon. The instructor was not fooled as she easily blocked the punch aimed at her face and ducked under the kick that followed. Now that she was within her enemy's guard, Asuka pressed up with her legs and released a devastating upper cut that knocked the younger woman off her feet. The experienced pilot allowed herself a smile of confidence, but felt the happy feeling be replaced with shock as she saw a metal leg flying toward her.

The blow knocked Asuka off her feet, requiring a full flip to right herself. By the time that was done though, the trainee's fist had already connected to Asuka's face, the shield protecting her flaring a bright crimson in protest to the strike. Shocked and caught off guard, Asuka retreated to regain her footing. _That was some impressive strategy there. This girl clearly had some excellent teachers to be doing this well. _More cautious now that the younger girl had proven herself, Asuka relaxed her stance to be more fluid, attempting to adapt her style to fit this new adversary. It had been a very long time since she had fought hand-to-hand, in the IS or otherwise, but hours upon hours of practice kept her still and poised. A quick check of her shield meter showed that she had lost a quarter of her 'health' in the last exchange, an astounding result for her enemy.

The rookie, her face unreadable behind her face mask, once again entered the limp stance, mimicking a snake reared up to strike. The two pilots circled each other for a few moments before both froze in place. Silence floated on the air as they stared each other down, daring their opponent to strike. Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, both women leaped right into the fray.

How long they traded blows for Asuka could not be sure. Punches and kicks, counters and blocks, all merged together as the two women spared. It did not take long though for an edge to become clear. As skilled as the trainee was, Asuka's experience and extensive training steadily gave her the advantage. Seeing her moment in the works, Asuka deflected a right hook and ducked a left jab, then rammed herself into her opponent's torso. Unprepared for the attack, the helmeted girl was knocked back until Asuka leapt atop her and kicked her into the ground. Readying herself for the final strike, the instructor jumped back, her thrusters roaring as she leaped up as high as she could. Her unsupported mass was too heavy to stay airborne and the red-head began her decent towards the ground, directly targeted at the rookie still lying stunned in the dirt. A satisfied smirk graced Asuka's lips as she wound up a mighty punch that would knock her opponent right out. Caught up in the emotion of the moment, she let out a loud war cry, her roar of triumph echoing across the empty stands.

The trainee was not done yet though. Asuka spied a hint of movement along the girl's arm, suggesting a last ditch attempt at stopping her punch. The red-head had spotted it though, and reangled to dodge the future blow. Now mere feet away from her victory, Asuka was relishing her success when a second glance tore it all away. Just below the focus of her vision was a blur of movement. Aware of the danger as she was, it was already far too late to correct her mistake now. _Clever girl._

Just as Asuka's rocketing fist collided with the trainee's IS, a monstrous kick slamed into her side, sending the astounded instructor careening into a wall.

All was quiet for some time, the last bits of dust just settling to the floor as thoughts raced inside Asuka's mind. _I can't believe it. She got me. I practically had her gift wrapped and ready for mailing when she gets me completely out of nowhere. How could I have missed it?_

After wrenching herself out of the wall Asuka turned and stared hard at the trainee, who had not moved from her crater in the ground. The instructor brought up a stadium report on her opponent's status, not at all surprised to see that the IS's true shield had held up under the limiters. Despite the ferocity of their fight, Asuka knew neither IS was anywhere close to the breaking point. Being designed to absorb hits from highly advanced kinetics and plasma, it was very unlikely some bare-knuckle brawling was even going to scratch the paint.

Satisfied that the girl was still breathing, Asuka slowly walked over to the crater, puzzling out just who the girl could be. She was obviously incredibly well skilled, almost certainly a national representative for her year. The question then was which county she was from. England? France? The U.S.? Germany, (heaven forbid)? Whichever is was, that girl would clearly be a rising star with the first year, perhaps even a future world champion in the making. The instructor clapped her hands in glee at the opportunity to train a potential world champ. A record like that would definitely open up some eyes back home. By the time Asuka reached the trainee's hole, she was day dreaming about touring around the world on an IS team, competing with some of the best pilots out there and soaking in the adoring love of her fans. She could almost see it now.

That 'almost' turned into complete blindness when she climbed over the lip of the crater and saw her rookie champ inside. The training IS had shut down automatically with the end of the test, returning to its standby state, which included removing the pilot's exoskeleton armor and helmet.

The person she saw as the pilot of the IS sent Asuka's brain on a one way trip to the moon. Sitting in the pilot seat of the IS who had given the instructor her best fight in years was none other than the 100% male Ichika Orimura, younger brother of her boss, Chifuyu. A lot of things could have been said which would have jolted the young woman out of her stunned silence, but none of those thousands of possibilities exited young Ichika's mouth. Instead he said in a pleading tone. "Could you help me out of here? I'm kinda stuck."

Asuka, the top IS instructor at the Academy and one of the most unshakeable women to have ever graced its halls, keeled over backwards and fell faint onto the ground, her IS forming a bright metal cocoon around her.

"Hello? Uh, ma'am? You still there? That was a really funny joke and all that, but I'm still trapped down here? Anyone? Help?"

* * *

><p>AN: Hello readers of Infinite Madness and welcome to my story. Now those of you who know your stuff will instantly say that this is a self-insert and call it a night, because there is no way a self-insert could ever be good right? Well two things on that subject. 1, I have read several awesome SI's and can proudly say that they were my inspiration for this story. 2, this isn't technically an SI, as the character of Frank will diverge from myself in numerous ways, most of which will not be clear until much later in the story. Until then I hope you give me a chance and will enjoy what I've written. Don't forget to review at the end, even if it is just to rail on me for getting someone's hair color wrong.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2 The History of Things to Come

Hello readers of Infinite Madness. Welcome to the second chapter of my story. For those of you wondering about Asuka, please note that she is _not_ the same exact character as she is in Neon Genesis Evangelion. That said she will be very similar, basically an adult version of her that is not completely mentally screwed up. So there's that. Also you should be warned that this is not the exact same universe as the show, as several things will be changed in the backstory to make a little more sense, (destroying 2000+ missiles in one IS is just ridiculous, no matter how badass you are). So if that turns you off somewhat, I'm sorry, but please give it a try anyway and be sure to tell me your thoughts on the changes. Enjoy!

Chapter 2

The History of Things to Come

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME HE WAS A GUY!?"

Chifuyu remained silent for a moment, allowing her direct subordinate some time to calm down. Despite knowing her for more than 5 years now, the older woman was sometimes shocked at just how frightening Asuka could be when she got angry. The old joke about fiery red-heads only just barely applied to this German pilot. She was less like a fire and more like a volcano, calm one moment and erupting the next. Still, the younger woman did have very good control of her temper most of the time. When she did lose it though, she made damn sure you knew about it.

When Asuka showed that she wasn't anywhere close to calming down and was continuing on her rant, Chifuyu continued to let her mind wander.

Come to think of it, it was rather odd that she has such a close friendship with a woman like Asuka anyway. They were practically opposites in a lot of ways. Asuka was loud, outgoing, energetic and openly confident in her abilities. She loved to fight and was extremely tactical in combat, making use of every strength and weakness on both sides of the fight. Chifuyu, by contrast, was very reserved, quiet, focused and silently intimidating. Asuka had to convince others she wasn't to be messed with. Chifuyu could say it louder by her mere presence.

The differences mattered little though, or maybe they were the thing that really mattered after all. The two of them complimented each other so well. Teacher and student. Quiet samurai and boisterous ace pilot. Whatever it was, Asuka was easily her best student, and the one she had always been closest to. It was this closeness that allowed Chifuyu to weather Asuka's rages with seemingly no effort. They were still very frustrating though. "If you're done running your mouth then perhaps I can get a chance to speak?"

Asuka halted her rant, scowling as she asked, "You didn't listen to anything I was just saying did you?" Chifuyu's only answer was a slight smile. "Oh God damnit Chifuyu! You could at least pretend that I have a right to be angry right now. You went behind my back and left me in the dark about who I was fighting. You never do that!"

The older woman let out a slight sigh. Her tone was remorseful as she said. "I know Asuka. Normally I would have informed you beforehand, especially since you're still on vacation."

Asuka let herself slump back and crossed her arms, her anger mollified for the moment. Chifuyu apologizing was a rare thing, almost as rare as her making a mistake, so Asuka knew she was sorry about it. _Too bad. It's not often I get an excuse to yell at Chifuyu. It's always so much fun._ The German girl huffed and said, "So what's different about this time? Aside from the obvious of course."

Chifuyu's smile returned. Asuka usually forgave very easily, and the ebony-haired woman was glad her friend wasn't holding a grudge. Those were very rare and always ended nastily for those who'd provoked her ire. "The decision to keep Ichika's identity from you was a collective one on the part of the Board. We couldn't let his instructor know that he was a male; otherwise the test would not be properly administered. We'd all agreed on that before you were chosen as the tester." Chifuyu threw a quick glance out the window to where Ichika was lying on the grass, his two assigned bodyguards standing a short distance away. "Ichika also thought it would be funny, so there's that."

Asuka glared at the boy for a moment, irritated that he had gotten a laugh out of her for something her bosses had decided on. It felt like cheating. "Of course he did. Story of my day. Anyway, how did you know that you needed me to test him? You only call me in for pilots who've already proven themselves."

Chifuyu was curious about that day comment, but shrugged it off for later. "I was going to call in Miss Yamada to handle it - you know how good she is with new students - but then I saw him running in the IS after two minutes of handling it. If we hadn't limited him to level 2 limiters he may very well have flown out of the stadium on his own. Plus he's been taking martial arts classes, as you obviously figured out, so he already knows how to fight."

Asuka mulled the news over in her mind and found that she wasn't really surprised. Some people just instinctively knew how to fly an IS, and it would make sense that Chifuyu's brother shared some of her natural talent. "About that. When did you find time to train him in that? I haven't seen you taking any extra time off lately."

Chifuyu closed her eyes, rapidly fabricating a cover for herself. "I didn't train him. He went and found a trainer for himself."

"What? No way! Ichika's never been that proactive before. Why would he do that?"

Sighing, Chifuyu turned away from her friend and again looked out the window and down at her new brother. He was still lying there on the grass and was talking to the two guards, looking like he didn't have a care in the world. "He's changed. And I don't just mean the memory loss. He was different even before that. I don't really know what happened, but it started while I was gone in Germany for that training job. Being on his own for a year must have really affected him. By the time I got back he'd already learned enough to reasonably defend himself from most threats. Worse than that, he was practically grown up." Down on the lawn Ichika laughed at something one of the guards said, then stood and actually did a standing flip. "I mean he's still mostly a kid. Hell he may be even more of a kid than before. He lost a lot of his naiveté but seems to have replaced it with a strange sense of humor. Along with a weird love of pranks."

Asuka looked down at Ichika as well, recognizing for the first time just how different he seemed. Despite being Chifuyu's best friend for several years, Asuka rarely saw her younger brother aside from the occasional visit to her friend's home. When she was there the boy she'd seen was kind and demure, a distinct separation from his older sibling. Now he was a completely different person, joking and laughing with two people he had barely met. "Must be strange, coming back home to see someone new living with you."

Chifuyu nodded, glad that her story had worked but also slightly upset that she had to lie to her best friend. It was necessary though to secure Ichika's safety. Even if he wasn't Ichika anymore… _NO! It doesn't matter that someone else is in there. He's still my brother. And I WILL defend him._

"So, when will he be starting in my class?"

Chifuyu cocked an eyebrow at her friend. "Oh? And what makes you think he's qualified to be in your class?"

"Uh, were we even at the same match just now? That kid is a potential goldmine. The amount of skill he showed in piloting the IS after only ten minutes of practice is _insane_. Not to mention his mastery of close-quarters combat. Hell, even with all the changes he's gone through he still has to be your brother if he's this talented. He is in my class. End of discussion."

Chifuyu knew that the Board would agree with her, as did Chifuyu herself, but Asuka didn't need to know that. "I don't know. Miss Yamada has done quite a bit of good work recently. Perhaps she should teach him."

Asuka rolled her eyes and said, "Ha ha, nice try Chifuyu. No. He's with me. That's that."

A slight smile appeared on the older woman's face. _Oh well. It was worth a shot. _"Alright fine. You're twisted my arm. I guess he'll be in your class." She continued on while Asuka was pumping her fist with glee. "He'll be placed in class 1-1 as a Rank 3 when the semester starts. Until then he's coming back home with me. Hopefully I can knock some memories back into that thick skull of his."

Asuka nodded somberly, reminded of the cost that Ichika had to pay for being the first male IS driver. _Poor guy. What must it be like to not remember anything about your old life? He must be devastated_

* * *

><p>"This is the most awesome day of my life," Frank whispered to himself as he fell back onto the grass. He lay there motionless, loving the smooth and tingly feeling of the small green stems on his neck.<p>

It had taken 5 minutes and the efforts of two other IS's to pull him out of the ground he was stuck in, which was both hilarious and frustrating, particularly because he needed to visit the bathroom. After that was done he'd been dragged off to meet more of the Administrative Board, who all shook his hand and praised his performance in the match. They'd eventually sent him off with some final glowing remarks, reminding him that he would have a lot of eyes on him throughout the year.

Chifuyu then showed up with his opponent from the arena, whose name was apparently Asuka. Thankfully they started moving immediately afterward, or else Frank might have laughed his ass off with the recognition of who she was. He spent the rest of the walk bouncing around in his head celebrating his tie with the red-haired German. Normally he would have been pissed about tying a match, especially if it was just by the skin of his teeth. But to have fought against someone who had such a badass reputation and managing to hold his own against her was more than enough for him.

His smiles were probably a bit too broad for his own good, because he appeared to be freaking out the poor guards who were being forced to escort them. Not that he noticed. He was just too absorbed in his happiness to care. When Chifuyu and Asuka told him to wait outside while they discussed his future at the Academy he merely nodded his head and returned to his daydreaming.

Just what was he daydreaming about? Well the IS of course. Frank didn't watch all that much anime back in his home… universe? Dimension? Point is, while he knew many of the common memes and trivia surrounding the more popular animes, he'd never actually watched many of them. Because of this, he'd had no idea of what to expect of piloting a mech. Now though, he could hardly imagine doing anything else that would even be close to the feeling he'd had today.

Being in the IS had given him a sense of power beyond anything he'd ever imagined. He'd had a raw strength capable of throwing tanks with ease and speed that could match that of a fighter jet. It was the most exhilarating experience in his life. _And I'm going to learn how to drive those for a living! _

Frank was so busy salivating that he didn't notice the two guards approaching him until one tapped him on the shoulder. He instinctively threw up a guard (stance, not actually throwing one of the guards), but relaxed when he saw it was Ramina and Tamicha. Chifuyu had explained that they would be his bodyguards while they waited for school to start and had introduced them to their charge. Neither guard had appeared thrilled at the assignment, which Frank did not help by immediately racing out of the stadium ahead of everyone else. Still, perhaps he should try to make nice with these two. After all they were here to protect him. "Oh, hi there. Didn't see you. What's up?"

Ramina answered him first, saying, "Mr. Orimura, as you know it is our duty to protect you. However, we heard from Miss Orimura that you have some knowledge of self defense. We are curious to see what you already know."

Frank laughed and said, "Okay you asked for it." He then flipped backwards and started going through numerous marital exercises showing off his strength and flexibility. It wasn't as easy for him to do everything in this body, seeing as the original owner had not exercised very much. It would take him time to both adjust to Ichika's body and to rebuild all the muscles that he'd originally had, but what he had now was still enough to put looks of awe on the faces of his two bodyguards.

Tamicha recovered first, managing to pull her jaw off the ground to be able to say, "That… that is very impressive Mr. Orimura. As skilled as you are though, it would not be worth much against anyone who truly wished you harm."

"Please call me Ichika. And yeah I figured that. That's why I have you guys, isn't it?"

"Yes. Should you come under assault, we would protect you until help can arrive." Ramina held her wrist significantly, twisting at a bracelet she wore for some reason.

Frank noticed this then asked, "So would you be protecting us with IS's? If so where would we store them?"

Ramina smiled then held out her bracelet, explaining, "We keep our personal IS's here on our wrists. We call on them when they are needed and they will instantly appear, ready for battle."

Incredulous, Frank looked closer at the bracelet, which sat there innocently staring back at him. "How the hell does an entire mech armor fit inside that tiny little wrist decoration?"

Tamicha and Ramina looked at each other, shrugged and said together, "We don't know."

When Frank complained about them not knowing how their own mechs worked, they explained that no one actually knew how they worked except for the original inventor, Tabane Shinonono. There were even some rumors that even Ms. Shinonono didn't know everything about them, particularly amongst men who wish to be IS pilots but were unable. Others said that it was a conspiracy on Tabane's part to phase men out of their dominant place in society, though most laughed this off as ludicrous.

Somewhat annoyed at the concept of the entire world using a battle mech no one actually understood, Frank decided to switch topics and asked Ramina and Tamicha about themselves.

As it turned out the two women were sisters, just barely a year apart in age, though they were even closer than some twins from what Frank gathered. They had both grown up here in Japan and enrolled in the IS Academy as teenagers. After graduating a few years ago they had tried to join the Japanese IS team but were rejected for lack of experience. Unable to place as instructors RT (as Frank started calling them in his head) were instead hired as guards for the school, ensuring that no terrorist groups or rouge attacks harmed the students.

"How often does that happen?"

Ramina smiled and said, "Almost never. The only attack in the school's history was immediately after its opening. Some nations weren't happy with the limitations the Alaska Treaty placed on them and tried to go after the Treaty Board, the one which also manages the Academy."

Tamicha continued for her sister. "They didn't get very far though. Back then the White Knight had not yet disappeared, and she defended the school with a vengeance. Ever since then it's always been too dangerous to attack the Academy and we have remained untouched ever since. We are proud to protect and serve our sister pilots from whatever evil monsters are out there."

Frank was a bit puzzled about both the Alaska Treaty and the White Knight but did not have a chance to inquire further when Asuka and Chifuyu walked out of the building behind him.

The two women talked at length about what the IS Academy was like and what his schedule would be. He would be put into class 1-1 with several of the other rank 3s and several rank 2s with Asuka as his instructor. He was glad to hear this, because few in his mind could be a better teacher then the ex-German representative. Frank learned that students lived in small apartments on campus with a single roommate, though who he would be rooming with had yet to be determined. Until school started he would be staying in Ichika and Chifuyu's house, where he was to remain inside unless escorted by RT.

With the day growing late and nothing more needing to be said the two Orimura's prepared to leave, the two twin bodyguards in tow. Frank bade farewell to Asuka, with the promise that their next match would be even more exciting than the first. It was clear from his instructor's face that she could hardly wait.

They left the Academy soon after in Chifuyu's car, Ramina and Tamicha sitting in the back after Frank called dibs on shotgun, (they were both confused at that one). As they drove off Frank took the time to look around at the city he now lived in. Tall, bright office buildings filled the city center, towering above the clean streets and busy sidewalks. Further out the houses looked far more familiar, though still much more stylized than he was used to. The whole area felt like it belonged several decades in the future but he was so fascinated with the landscape that he didn't care.

One thing that he noticed was weird was just how spread out everything was. The descriptions he'd heard of Japan in the past suggested that being able to hold your arms out to your sides a major achievement. But this city seemed to have heard that stereotype and slashed it to pieces. San Francisco was far worse in its suburbs than any part of downtown, and this city's suburbs had bloody lawns!

When he asked about the city's history, Chifuyu said it had been built very recently, only 10 years ago for the main city center, and it was still growing on the outskirts.

They soon arrived at the house; a medium sized two-story building with a well-manicured lawn in an upscale neighborhood. The place looked very comfortable to Frank's eye, and was nicer than any house he'd ever lived in previously. _Sweet._

As they walked in Chifuyu lead them all around the house, pointing out Ichika's bedroom and the guest room where RT would be staying. When the two sisters gave no objection to the single bed in the room Frank gave Chifuyu a look, wriggling his eyebrows suggestively. The ebony haired woman paid him no heed, sending him off to make dinner.

Apparently Chifuyu had Ichika do all of the cooking and cleaning around the house due her long hours at the Academy. Thankfully for Frank he had plenty of experience with both subjects and was able to make some quick and easy ramen for everyone. _Looks like I'm going to have to get some Japanese cook books very soon._

Frank didn't mind though. Cooking was one of the few chores he'd ever actually enjoyed, and this house was so clean and orderly anyway that it would be an cinch to maintain.

Dinner was a quiet affair, broken only by the occasional question from the two guards about the neighborhood and possible defensive options. Frank just let his thoughts wander around, alternatively replaying his match with Asuka and daydreaming about future battles.

When everyone finished Frank cleared up the plates and loaded the dishwasher while the three women discoursed in the living room. While he was washing he took a moment to appreciate the house. It was very nice, probably less than a few years old and had everything a bachelor would need to relax. A massive hot tub in the master bedroom, a large home theater and an entire, well-stocked bar in the kitchen. The fact that the bachelor was a barely into her twenties woman and her younger brother was kept around to maintain it all did not detract a wit from the value of the house in Frank's eyes. Besides, he would be able to use those same amenities for himself when Chifuyu was at school. He nearly rubbed his hands in glee in anticipation.

After he was done with his dishwashing Frank wandered into the living room in time to hear RT announce that they were going on a trip around the neighborhood to search for anything (or anyone) suspicious. It would take them several hours so they told the siblings to go ahead and sleep if they wanted. Frank privately wondered if he'd ever be able to fall asleep again after how exciting this day had been.

Once they'd left, Chifuyu turned to Frank and said, "I don't suppose you'll be falling asleep anytime soon will you?" He shook his head. "Well then let's talk."

Frank rested back against his part of the couch and let his sister speak.

"Over the course of the next few days I will be educating you on Ichika's past and personality in the guise of trying to bring back your memories. While we do this you must be constantly aware of what you say in front of Ramina and Tamicha. To blow your secret now would add a thousand complications we don't currently need. Now that they're gone for the moment we can get a head start."

Frank leaned back up for a moment while he said, "Yeah, I've been meaning to ask about that. If they're here to keep us safe, then why would they leave us alone at night with the expectation that we would be going to sleep?"

Chifuyu sighed and shook her head, muttering under her breath, "Baka." In a stronger tone she explained, "I talked with them earlier about this and they agreed to give me a chance to speak to you alone, 'sibling to sibling'. It is actually very unlikely that you will be attacked here at home because no one knows about your IS ability yet. Ramina and Tamicha are here just as much to keep you here, and out of trouble, as much as to defend you. The Board mandated they be here on the very minor chance of an attack, and I agreed, but they left final discretion of how much you have to be guarded to me."

"Oh," was all Frank could say in response.

After that Chifuyu started telling the story of Ichika's past. The Orimura's had lost their parents as kids, forcing Chifuyu to grow up and protect her brother to the best of her ability. Ichika apparently didn't even remember his parents at all. The only things he knew about family came from his sister. _Poor guy._

Chifuyu did her job well. Almost too well now that she was looking back on it. Ichika was all but sheltered from everything negative the world had to offer. Somewhere along the way Ichika must have realized the hardships she was going through and wanted to help her, not knowing that her suffering was meant to protect him. The boy must have been so confused about what to do. Ichika became very closed off and quiet, preferring his own company or that of sister to other people. Then, when Ichika turned 8, everything changed.

Before Chifuyu could expand upon that the doorbell rang, forcing her to pause in her storytelling and answer the door. Frank was left to brood on what she had said, and wonder just what the hell had changed on Ichika's 8th birthday. _Damn cliffhangers. Always hated them so much._

Once she came back with RT, Chifuyu sent him off to bed. It was going to be a busy day for her tomorrow so he needed to be ready to help her be ready to help her in the morning. Frank threw an affirmative salute and marched off to his room. As soon as he entered he found himself growing extremely tired, as if every exertion he'd made that day hit him all at the same time. Exhaustion creped into his limbs as Frank shakily made it to the bed and conked out instantly.

* * *

><p>The next morning was a flurry of activity as Ichika rushed around the house to help Chifuyu get ready for work. He did everything from setting out her clothes, hanging up her towel, making breakfast, cleaning the dishes, fetching the newspaper and finally delivering her suitcase to her just outside the door. He ran the whole gamut. By the time his sister had left his head was spinning like a top.<p>

Thankfully though with her gone he was able to relax a while and start on the unofficial homework Chifuyu had given him. The book, entitled 'The Short but Powerful History of the Infinite Stratos', had been written only a year before and was a world best seller, so Chifuyu was hoping it would help to jump start his education before the school year started.

While reading the introduction he was astounded at all the different ways the IS could be used aside from combat. The designs had proven their value in everything from aiding astronauts on space walks, emergency rescue work, deep seas exploration, weather prediction, energy production and international sport.

The military side of its capabilities was a whole 'nother can of worms though. On the eve of launching her new product, the super genius (and slightly wacky) inventor of the IS declared that her mech designs would make all modern military tech completely obsolete. Experts all over the world scoffed at that, saying that an ungainly suit designed for space, (as the IS was originally supposed to be) would be utterly inoperable on the surface due to weight problems, not to mention the disconnected forms of most of the designs.

Sadly for many, those experts were about to eat their own words. A militant terrorist group, Gaia's Fist, had proclaimed Japan as the worst offender in global deforestation and destruction of habitat to make way for human cities, which held some unfortunate grains of the truth. In retaliation for the perceived evils, Gaia's Fist hired a large group of hackers in the US to take control of twelve nuclear tipped ICBMs and launch them at Japan. Only two missiles were actually launched, but by then it was too late. Japan had mere minutes before the destruction of two cities and the deaths of millions. The Land of the Rising Sun's darkest hour had returned.

The world watched with baited breath as the two rockets continued their journey of devastation. Cheers echoed for a moment when one missile lost control of itself in flight and fell into the ocean without harm. There was still one rocket though, and this one had just been maintained the day before. It would not falter in its mission. It would strike its target.

The people of Tokyo were gathered together in the streets, holding hands and awaiting the end, knowing that nothing could save them now. Then just as the bloom of the rocket's exhaust became visible, it disappeared behind a massive wall of flame. The world was dazed, unsure if what they had seen was true. Silence reigned until a military fighter jet approached the place of the explosion. There, hovering still in the air was a pale metal angel armed with a sword made out of pure light. The machine, the white knight, turned to the approaching jet and held up its weapon in salute. Their savior then turned and flew off, faster than the jet could pursue. The pilot's video log was immediately uploaded to the Internet for the world to see.

Over the next few weeks Japan praised their savior, calling it a gift of mercy from the gods above. The rest of the world was in awe of what had occurred. Experts later determined that the IS had flown straight at the ICBM with a speed in excess of Mach 4, meaning that the closing speed of the two objects was approaching thirty times the speed of sound. Upon the very instant the two had met, the IS, dubbed by the world press 'The White Knight', had slashed its plasma sword straight through the hardened _heat-resistant reentry cone_ without any problem. When the super heated plasma of the blade had hit the remaining fuel, it had detonated. Even with the small amount left after its long trip there was still enough fuel to explode with the same force as several tons of TNT. Yet when the jet had flown by it mere moments afterward, the IS had been completely unscathed, shining as if it had just dropped down from heaven.

And just like that the world changed.

Frank paused here at the end of the chapter, absolutely astounded by what he had read. Not only had the events described in the book startled him with their horrible realism, but also his brain had practically exploded at what the book had implied. Japan had been struck by nuclear weapons before. _This could be my own world._

That thought was burned into Frank's mind as he ran up the stairs to Chifuyu's office and booted up the computer. Chifuyu had told him to use the guest account if he needed to access the computer as it was hers and she occasionally used it to manage her finances. Once it was up he quickly found the web browser (called Web Surf of all things) and searched for 'Japanese Modern History'. After a quick scan of the results he was surprised to see an entry from a website called Web Tropes. Curious he clicked on it and was greeted by the sight of his old friend TV Tropes with a new look and name. He then searched for 'Infinite Stratos', eager to see what his favorite snarking web nerds had to say on the subject. The link carried him to a page called 'Rise of the Powered Armor.' It gave further details of about the IS, especially on the near disaster of the ICBM launch. All of the usual dry wit and overblown emotion that Frank loved was there, as well as numerous repeats of the phrase 'Mechs are real! Blessed be Japan!"

The event had happened a bare 10 years ago, in 2034. _Two decades after I left._ If the entry on the wiki was right, Frank had been pulled nearly 30 years into the future.

_Oh this is perfect. I am at the exact best time to be experiencing this new world. If I had to be here as an adult, with a job, spouse, and some loud and bouncy kids, I wouldn't be able to appreciate this anywhere near as much. Thank God for contrived coincidence._

Frank spent the rest of the day wandering around the Internet searching for more info on IS history. While he did he picked up a few interesting tidbits about the changes the world had gone through.

In 2020 the UN officially recognized English as the first world language, and many countries introduced measures to implement it into official channels. Oddly enough the two primary English speaking countries, the US and UK, were both unaware of the move towards this measure until very late in the game, and as such were unable to take advantage of it until sometime afterward. In 2022, a massive party was held on the winter solstice to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the world not ending in 2012. Roland Emmerich was called in for a special screening of his 2009 disaster movie set in the Mayan disaster, and much fun was had by all.

A much darker footnote was the very short Second Korean War that happened three years after the unveiling of the IS. After China withdrew its support for North Korea as part of its effort to improve world relations during the run up to the Alaska Treaty covering IS usage, the northern part of the peninsula fell into an even deeper darkness than before. Out of pure desperation more than anything else, Kim Jung Un declared war with the South in a last ditch attempt to reunite the peninsula under one banner. His forces bombarded emplacements all along the DMZ and pushed forward despite heavy opposition on every front.

Faced with the endless will of a nation with nothing to lose, South Korea was forced to call upon its allies for help. In response, two teams of American and Japanese IS's were deployed to push back the communist aggressors and finally bring down the North's corrupt leadership. Less than 48 hours later the entire communist army was forced to surrender after seeing every major offensive it launched wiped out in minutes by the invincible flying death-dealers. Tanks, APCs, AA guns, SAMs, everything was hopeless to cause harm to the IS's protective shield, let alone hit their target. Whole divisions threw down their arms the instant they heard the distinctive roar of the IS's soaring overhead.

With the attacks stopped and the army effectively neutralized, the victorious IS drivers turned their attention to Pyongyang, home of Kim Jong Un and his supporting generals. It was here that they faced their first real challenge. Not from what had previously been called the worlds most in depth anti-air defense network. No, the things that threatened them were the small portions of the North Korean air force that remained operational. Before China had finally withdrawn support from their aggressive neighbors there were some sales of mildly advanced jets, including four of the extremely capable Su-35 Super Flanker design. When these jets met with the IS's in combat, the results stunned the world.

Initially confident, the American mechs easily shot down the outdated Vietnam era aircraft which raced out to meet them head on, many of the inexperienced pilots unable to even get a shot off. When they reached the city center though, things changed. It was later discovered that the squadron the Americans faced was made of up the few aces Korea could actually lay claim to, all of them well experienced from shooting down the armed Russian drones that periodically challenged the border. In the following dogfight all of the Flankers were shot down, but at the cost of three heavily damaged IS's and one dead pilot, who had unluckily caught four different missiles in the face at the same time. Flight data gathered later showed that the enemy aces had managed to hold out against twice as many IS's for nearly ten minutes, whilst still being able to coordinate with each other and time their attacks to strike the same target repeatedly.

Though the remaining mechs completed their mission and captured the North Korean government not long afterward, the battle served as a sign that the IS was not invulnerable, and that a skilled jet fighter pilot could match them in the skies. This prompted another arms race as 1st world nations restarted aircraft development and prioritized pilot training and drone production. IS drivers soon became direct rivals with pilots in their nation's air forces, the single gender of the one group eclipsed by the much more mixed make-up of the other.

In all the short conflict showed much about how the nature of war had changed with the introduction of the Infinite Stratos. Ground forces and tanks became mere placeholders in combat, meant to hold the line until the mechs could arrive and dominate the battlefield. Naval fleets were still a danger to IS's, particularly the anti-missile ships like the American Aegis, while carriers changed to carry a mix of aircraft and mechs. Nations came to measure military power in the form of how many squadrons of mechs and planes they had, and later on the models they had in stock.

Though the Alaska treaty has held, and no major nation has engaged with another IS user in open warfare, concern over the possibility is rampant throughout the industrialized world. Frank discovered that this was the exact reason the IS Academy was created. The school was meant to bring potential pilots together from all nations and to create a sense of unity and sisterhood amongst them. How well it worked was up to debate, but no wars had broken out yet, so Frank could hope that peace would remain.

* * *

><p>Frank was busy reading another chapter of his book when the doorbell rang downstairs. When he got down to the front door Ramina had already opened it and let Chifuyu in. The instant his sister saw him she tossed her coat at him and asked, "So, how far did you get Ichika?"<p>

Frank wrestled the coat out of his face and said, "A few chapters in. I kinda stopped after I read something interesting and needed to do some research. You'll never believe what I found out. Come on!" With that he grabbed Chifuyu's hand and dragged her upstairs, unaware of the shocked expression on her face.

Some time later, after Frank had shown her all his research proving where and when he was from, Chifuyu was sitting on the on the bed contemplating while Frank was putting away some laundry he'd cleaned earlier. "So you're actually from the past. This is very interesting."

"I know right," Frank said while hanging up a shirt. "It means everything I used on the Internet before I left is still there. I just have to look for it."

Chifuyu snorted, causing Frank to laugh at how much more open she was when here at home. "I was thinking more along the lines of finding your family. If only to make it easier to understand you."

A loud clattering came from the closet as Frank turned around inside. "You're not serious are you? Please tell me you're not really thinking about that."

Chifuyu was genuinely shocked at this. This was the first time she'd heard Frank be afraid of something. His terror was heartrending. Concerned, the older woman asked in a light tone, "Why don't you want to see your family? What are you afraid of?"

Frank's face tightened for a moment as he said, "Let's just say me and my father didn't exactly see eye to eye." He turned around and continued sorting out clothes, whispering quietly, "Not every family is a good one, sis. Sometimes it's better to be on your own."

Chifuyu looked at her brother, wondering what his father could have done to him to make them both hate each other so much. She jolted when she realized that Frank's skill with cooking and cleaning might not be a wholly good thing. Keeping her voice steady wasn't easy, but she had a lot of practice at it. "Were household chores one of the things you 'disagreed' on?"

Frank chuckled at the question. "No. That was something my mother taught me. She knew my dad was absolutely hopeless at housework, so she taught me to do it instead. Good thing too, or else…" His voice trailed off as he held a light blue suit, one that Chifuyu hadn't worn in a long time. "Or else we would have been truly lost without her."

Chifuyu recognized the phrasing that he used. "I'm sorry."

Frank's smile returned as he put the last shirt on its hanger and said, "It's okay. It happened years ago and I'm over it now. I still sometimes miss her, but I know better than to dwell on it. Just gotta keep moving forward after all."

The rest of the night was spent going over more of Ichika's childhood with Chifuyu, thankfully with RT watching a movie in the other room.

As it turned out Ichika's 8th birthday was the exact day of the unveiling of the IS, as well as the terrifying events that followed. Thanks to the White Knight's intervention they all survived and Chifuyu immediately wanted to become an IS pilot so that she could protect Ichika. Luckily she was actually best friends with the designer in school and…

A loud thumping noise interrupted the woman. Chifuyu paused in her story telling to help Frank up off the floor. "She was your best friend?! But you were 14! I checked the dates earlier today. That would have to mean that…"

"Yes," Chifuyu said in a deadpan. "Tabane was the same age as me when she invented the IS." Chifuyu didn't bother to help her brother off the floor this time and opted to continue with her story.

Anyway, Tabane was more than happy enough to give her best friend an IS and tricked her out with one of the very best. The _Byakushiki_ was a lightning fast demon of a mech wielding an epically powerful plasma sword. Problem was that was its only armament, and when it often went up against other IS's which had everything from machine guns to plasma cannons it could be rather difficult to work with. At least, it would have been for another pilot. Chifuyu seemed to handle it just fine. Turns out having a but-ton of kendo and martial arts training combined with a natural talent at IS piloting makes one a bit of a badass. So Chifuyu spent the next few years learning how to fly an IS to the best of her ability, making sure that Ichika safely started school and did his best at learning. Frank silently gave her props for not only becoming a master pilot in so little time but also taking care of her brother at the same time.

Once Chifuyu proved herself to be one of the most talented pilots in the world, Japan asked her to go on the international circuit in the new set of IS sports that had taken the world by storm. She agreed, but only if the government would pay her enough to take care of herself and her brother. For the next few years, life calmed down somewhat for the two siblings. Chifuyu would go traveling for the IS sports season to make money while Ichika went to school and took care of the house. By the time her third season had rolled around Chifuyu was a household name among IS fans and was in the running for the world championships. At the end of the fourth season she was invited to the tournament at the end of the year and swept her way through the early rounds. Just as she was about to fight in her title match though, disaster struck.

Ichika had been watching the tournament back at home and was taken hostage by a terrorist group hoping to co-opt his sister into working for them. Very big mistake. Even though leaving before the match would result in her being disqualified, Chifuyu immediately abandoned the arena and found the terrorist headquarters in a matter of hours. Once she did the group ceased to exist and Ichika was freed without harm.

The reigning champ later expressed regret that she could not have her match with Chifuyu. She had been the first opponent she had that had represented a challenge. Sadly the tournament rules were very specific and there was no overruling them. Worse than that though was the fact that Chifuyu was now obligated to visit Germany to help train some potential pilots they had due to the fact that they had provided her with the terrorists' location. That next year had been very stressful for Chifuyu as she learned how to be a teacher to a group of young girls while at the same time trying her best to keep sending messages back to Ichika, who had been forced into hiding for his own safety. Frank could easily see how her story about his personality change could fit into the circumstances, so much so that he wondered how Ichika had not changed in that time at least somewhat.

Not everything was bad about the trip though. Chifuyu met Asuka there, later bringing her to the Academy for more training, as well as learning how to be a teacher. Now that her time on the professional circuit was brought to a premature end due to the controversy surrounding her saving of Ichika, the IS Academy Board decided to bring her on as a teacher. Unfortunately she was no longer allowed to pilot her IS anymore due to pressures from other countries. They had heard ominous rumors of her, (that Chifuyu refused to expand upon), and refused to allow her to continue piloting.

"Were you pissed about that?"

Chifuyu was silent for a moment as she thought about her answer. "At first, yes. Had I been impulsive about it I probably would have told them where to stuff their concerns and go right on piloting. But I thought it through and realized it was the best option. Teaching at the school meant a stable income and constant access to you, not to mention I actually enjoyed it a lot. Plus being a pilot for me wasn't as fun as it was for other people. I could never convince myself to just enjoy it. It was always a means to an end, either getting enough money to take care of us or just to protect Ichika. I never really had a chance to play around in the IS as much as I probably should. Maybe in a few years, after everyone forgets about me and the past is a little more distant, I'll get another shot at the big time. Maybe I'll even be able to have a little fun with it. Until then though, I am perfectly happy with being a teacher. Heck, I get to teach my own little brother. What's not to like about that?"

Frank smiled then walked over and gave his sister a hug. He could feel her tense up at the unexpected contact, but relaxed a bit when he said, "It's good to have someone to look out for you. Just don't forget to take care of yourself too."

Chifuyu remained still for a moment while Frank hugged her, and then eventually returned the gestured with a few light taps. She tried not to look relieved when the contact ended, and instead smiled slightly then sent him off to bed, though not before smacking him a bit for catching her off guard like that.

Chuckling at the reaction, Frank made his way to bed, reflecting on how nice it was to have a real family member after so long on his own.

* * *

><p>The rest of the week passed surprisingly quickly for Frank. He finished the book on the second day and switched to Internet sources for more information. Everything he found just made him more excited for school to start in a few days. While he did he kept on managing the house and getting lessons from Chifuyu on 'his' past.<p>

Ichika had not been entirely on his own for all the years Chifuyu had been busy taking care of him. He had first made friends with Tabane's younger sister Houki in kendo class. They had been best friends for several years when the IS was revealed and suddenly every criminal and their mother was after Tabane to get their own IS. Because of this the two sisters were forced to go into hiding, and Ichika lost one of his best friends for many years. Chifuyu warned that Houki would be in his class at school, so he'd better be sure and explain about the memory loss story or there would be trouble.

After that Chifuyu talked about his other friend Rin, who was a Chinese immigrant who had lived with her grandparents in a local restaurant. Rin basically took over the spot that Houki used to fill, though Rin never actually knew that while she'd lived here. She stayed for several years but moved away after her father had to go back to China for wok. She too would be at the IS Academy, as the Chinese representative no less. Thankfully she would be in another class, though Chifuyu mentioned that that might not be enough to fully dissuade Rin from searching him out. Frank became somewhat nervous at that, but held his peace. He'd watched his friends deal with crazy obsessed girls before. How hard could it be?

After that there was a bunch of stuff about Japanese etiquette that he had to listen to, though he doubted he would use just about any of it. Learning how to use chopsticks was helpful though, especially now that he was making proper Japanese meals for dinner. Chifuyu actually applauded his efforts, saying that he was just as good as he was before, if not better now that he officially learned the recipes.

On the last day before class Chifuyu gave him a manual that detailed how to pilot and maintain his IS. He was only expected to learn the first few chapters, as the rest required some more information as a base that he would learn in class, but it would still give him a competitive edge on his classmates. Reportedly it had been Asuka's idea and Frank loudly thanked her in such a way that RT would be sure to tell her about it.

He managed to convince Chifuyu to bring him to school so he could watch some of the placement tests by the other students. He had to disguise himself somewhat for the journey and sit up in the observation box with the Board members, but it was worth it to see the fights. Most of the students could only just manage to run their machines around for a few minutes before the instructors pummeled them into the ground, but a few fought back.

The first that caught his attention was a girl with waist length jet-black hair and a look that just dared anyone to question her. When she got into her IS it took only a few seconds for her to adjust, proving that the girl had been in an IS before. The instructor must have noticed this as well, as she immediately started the fight portion of the test. The trainee really held her own for a while, use a simple sword that the standard IS's had, (that he had not be aware of, Gagh!), to great effect blocking and reflecting her attacker's hits. It wasn't enough though as the green haired instructor eventually stopped holding back and disarmed her in an instant. He applauded the girl heartily with the rest of the board, impressed with what he had seen.

The next pilot to catch his eye was a small girl with brown hair tied up with twin yellow ribbons that walked out onto the field on her own. He was surprised, because every other girl had used a practice IS that was already on the field. He swiftly figured it out though when he spied the metal bracelet on her wrist, showing that she had a personal IS to use. _This must be one of the national representatives. I wonder where she's from._

After her instructor walked out on the field, once again the green haired woman with the large… tracts of land, the girl summoned her IS with a swish of her arm. The IS was small and sharp-looking, sporting a black and magenta color scheme and multiple spikey growths. The battle that followed was the best of the day, as the instructor used her speed and range to stay away from the close quarters optimized IS used by the trainee. Frank was practically jumping up and down in his seat as the magenta IS tried multiple times to blast her enemy at point blank range, but the instructor was just too quick. In the end the match was a loss for the trainee, though most of the Board members around him took special note of the girl's tenacity and strength.

The rest of the day was rather dull as the remaining students tried and failed to make any headway against their opponents. Frank tried to look for Asuka, but his red-haired teacher was nowhere in sight. Once all of the students had finished their try-outs Chifuyu came and picked him up for the car drive home. On the way back he asked about the two girls whose fights had interested him and found out that they were his two childhood friends, Houki and Rin. Surprised, but oddly pleased, he talked with Chifuyu about the fights, arguing on the good decisions and costly mistakes both had made in combat.

That night Frank had a hard time sleeping for a while, mind racing as he continued to review the fights from earlier that day. Just before consciousness left him, he heard the door open and caught a glimpse of Chifuyu quietly checking in on him. He smiled and settled down at last, comforted that he had someone looking out for him. _Thanks for everything Chifuyu. You're a good sister._


	3. Chapter 3 First Day F&k Ups

Hello again dear readers. I must apologize for the delayed update. There are several reasons for it. 1, my laptop finally got back from the repair shop (a full month after it was supposed to. Idiots) and I had to use it to catch up on some school work. 2, I kinda sorta ran out of pre-written stuff. I have a fair bit of work to do. Anyway, please enjoy the latest chapter. Don't forget to read and review. Oh and if any of you are tropers, then feel free to recommend this. Do that, and I will give you 9001 internet cookies (don't worry, I'm good for them). Into the Madness!

Chapter 3

First Day F*&k Ups

Frank had been sitting at his desk, legs propped up and hands behind his head for nearly twenty minutes when the first student arrived in the class. He didn't immediately notice them though due to his daydreaming nap. So when the girl woke him up by yelling, "Ichika!" from the door, he was a little startled. Startled enough to slip out of his chair and fall to the floor in a heap.

"Whoa, hey! Who's there?" His speech was slightly slurred somewhat from his landing. "Why you make 'a me fall outta my chair?"

The girl, who had very long black hair tied up in a loose ponytail by a red and white bow, stared at him with her cobalt eyes, as if pleading for something. She wore the standard school uniform, a white blazer with long sleeves and a skirt, similar to Frank's own, though with the obvious change of him having pants. She was very pretty, in an aloof and unreachable sort of way._ Kinda like Chifuyu, only she's drop dead gorgeous. _Frank's wandering thoughts were brought to heel when the girl asked, "What are you doing here Ichika?"

Frank lifted himself off the floor, dusting off his pants as he did so. "I'm here as the world's first male IS pilot, and I plan to be one of the best." His face adopted a confused look as he continued, "Wait, you already know my name. Do I know you from somewhere?"

The girl started trembling slightly, though Frank was too busy looking off into his memory to notice. "You don't remember me?" she asked, her voice quivering.

Frank snapped his fingers as the thought returned to him. "Oh yeah! Now I remember. You were one of the students I watched in the matches yesterday. Chifuyu told me your name but I've gone and forgotten it." He sighed, shaking his head at himself. "I am so bad with names. Honestly. I have to spend a lot of time around a person just to get it memorized and…"

At that point the girl snapped and charged at him out of nowhere. Caught off guard, Frank screamed comically as the girl tackled him to the ground and started slamming his head against the tile. At least, she tried to do that. Frank was fast enough to slip out from under her grasp on the floor and started leaping over desks and chairs, trying to put some distance between himself and the psycho behind him. "Damnit, what the hell was that for?" He freaked out as soon as he said that because he spotted the girl following behind him, knocking over everything in her path to get at him.

"You worthless idiot! I was your best friend for five years and you go and forget about me!?" At this point there were very few things left standing and poor Frank was cowering behind the teacher's desk, hoping she wouldn't remove his last piece of cover.

"It's not my fault. Complete amnesia doesn't exactly let you pick and choose which memories to keep."

The girl paused in her assault, which Frank was infinitely grateful for, and she fixed him with a sunburn-inducing glare. "What do you mean?"

So Frank quickly went over the events of his arrival day, leaving out any mention of him being from the past. The girl's expression gradually softened as he explained, till finally she was sitting atop one of the few desks that were still upright. "So you don't remember anything. You don't even remember us being friends."

Frank winced at her forlorn tone and said, "No, but I know that we were friends. Chifuyu talked about you a lot while she was reeducating me. You were my best friend when I was young. That's gotta count for something right?"

She turned away and looked out the window at the sky beyond. "Maybe it did before. Now…"

"Now that means we'll just have to start over," Frank said with a smile.

Houki glanced back at him, confusion mixed with hope in her eyes.

"I don't know anyone at this school, except maybe two of the teachers, and one of those is my sister. Even if I still had my memories that number probably wouldn't be that much better. You are one of the only people here who actually knows my name, who won't see me as 'OMGee! It's the boy! He's so cute and handsome and alone and…' Bleech! Point is, you'd see me as who I am, maybe even better than I could see myself. So what do you say? Want to start over?" He held out his hand with a grin, hoping against hope that he hadn't just made a fool of himself in front of this girl.

Houki stared at him, appearing conflicted with herself. It didn't take her long to decide though, as she reached out and gladly shook his hand. "Sure, why not?"

The two new friends spent the next few minutes repairing the classroom, talking about themselves to pass the time. Frank learned that Houki was a kendo master, her favorite color was bright red, and she had a kickass poker face. Having much less to go on due to his pretend memory loss, Frank gave a play by play of his match with Asuka, managing to impress and surprise his new friend with his roundabout victory. She was most surprised that Frank knew martial arts now, apparently because her memories from back in their junior kendo classes told a very different story of Ichika's view on fighting. Frank tried to explain that away by saying that being left alone for a year immediately after being kidnapped by a terrorist organization changes a person, to which she had no argument.

They had just finished fixing the chairs when the next set of students came in. They were a small clique of girls, chattering amongst themselves when they spotted Frank and fell silent. Frank ignored them and sat next to Houki up front, taking out a book and starting to read. His general plan for handling all of the female attention he knew he was going to garner was to ignore those too shy to speak to him but be polite to those who could muster up the will. It seemed to be working so far, as the girls fled to the back of the class and started whispering quietly, throwing the occasional glance his way when they got curious.

"Not very subtle are they?" he commented to Houki. She just rolled her eyes in response, then leaned over and pretended to mutter something in his ear, sending the girls behind him into a muted tizzy. Frank turned and eyed Houki with a smirk. "You are just evil you know that?" She merely smiled and stared out the window again, no longer paying their watchers any attention.

More and more girls poured into the class over the next few minutes, each reacting to him exactly the same as the previous group. Frank actually started counting how long it took them to go through the full cycle, awarding points based on how fast they were.

The class was about half full when the cycle was broken by a newcomer. She had long blond hair held back by an aqua hair band whose color matched the eyes that Frank felt fall on him. "And just what is a boy doing in here? This is a school for girls." Her voice was very haughty and regal, betraying her nationality to Frank almost immediately. _British nobility, eh? Oh this will be fun._

Frank turned to her with a confused face, saying in a falsetto, "But I am a girl. Can't you tell how pretty I am?" Houki clapped her hands over her mouth to hold in her laughter, though she went unnoticed by the blond girl.

"Ha ha, very funny. You haven't answered my question yet. Tell me why you're here before I call the guards to remove you."

Frank smiled and casually leaned back in his chair. "Isn't it obvious? I'm here as a student, same as you."

The blond scoffed and threw a lock of her hair out of her face as she said, "Impossible. Everyone knows that males cannot pilot the IS. They have never been accepted by the IS cores and are therefore unworthy of piloting them."

Frank felt his eye twitch in annoyance at the girl's arrogance, but kept himself civil as he said, "Well I'm the exception to the rule." He smiled at the girl politely, taking great pleasure in her visible annoyance.

The girl sputtered for a bit then switched to a self-assured smile as she said, "Well, you may be 'able' to pilot, but can you fight? I defeated an instructor in my placement match. How did you do?"

Frank gave a nonchalant shrug and said, "Eh, I got a tie. No big whoop." Houki started snickering beside him so he elbowed her softly to keep her quiet.

"Oh, and who did you tie against? Bridget? Yamada? Mary?" Most of the class giggled at that last one.

_I don't know who this Mary is, but she sounds just like Raditz. _"Nah, it wasn't any of them. Oh what was her name? Chifuyu introduced me to her after the match. I think it started with an A." He started tapping his chin, pretending to be thoughtful. "Oh yeah. I remember now. It was Asuka."

"Asuka?!" The blond girl backed up several steps upon hearing what he'd said, and the rest of the class fell utterly silent.

"Yeah. Apparently she's going to be our teacher this year. Isn't that right Miss Asuka?"

"Damn straight!" Everyone turned to the door to see the infamous German waltz in the door. She wore a bright red blouse that perfectly matched her hair and a pair of black slacks that contrasted well with her top. Her smile was intimidating predatory as she stood behind her desk staring at all the students. "Well, how come you're not in your seats?"

The students all panicked and started racing to the nearest desk, chairs scraping loudly as everyone pushed around each other in a mad dash. Frank and Houki just sat in their seats smiling at their classmates, laughing inside at the wonderfully silly expressions they all made as they ran around. The blond haired girl ended up sitting on Frank's right, something that she want not very happy about if the scowl on her face was any indication.

Once the noise died down Asuka swept her eyes around the classroom, her emerald irises just daring anyone to be out of place. "That's better. Alright class, welcome to your first year here at the Academy. My name is Asuka Belvara, and I will be your homeroom teacher for the next year. Some words of warning. I will not tolerate any goofing off in my class. When you are in here, you are here to learn. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. That said, you will find me to be much more flexible than most teachers. If you ever need help, don't be afraid to ask. My office is always open if you need to see me. Also, I expect you all to work together. This school doesn't just teach piloting skills. It also shows you how to work as a team. Be willing to help out your classmates and they will be there to help you too. You kids got all that?"

Many of the students made various noises in affirmation, and everyone was paying full attention. "Good, now we can get started with the introductions. Seat order, starting from the back. Name, rank, and one interesting fact about yourself. Go."

Frank tried his best to pay attention but he knew it was pointless. He wouldn't remember half of these names before the class was even done, and he knew for a fact none of them would be remembered by the end of the day. When they finally reached the front row the blond girl stood up and announced, "Cecilia Alcott, Rank 3 and British representative for this year." Frank mentally gave himself several points for being right on every guess, save for the name. He had bet it would be something starting with B, but that would be a little too obvious.

Then it was his turn. He stood up, making sure he was as relaxed as possible in his posture, and said, "My name is Ichika Orimura, Rank 3. I am the younger brother of Chifuyu Orimura and the first male IS pilot." He added on a smirk to his face and said, "And before any of you try to ask: No, I am not currently seeking any relationships at this time so please refrain from bothering me on the subject." A loud groan echoed through the classroom, though it immediately died out when Asuka swept them with a glare.

Houki stood up after him, saying, "Houki Shinonono, Rank 2, younger sister of Tabane Shinonono." A slight smile appeared on her face as she continued, "And no, I cannot tell anyone where she lives, so don't ask." No groan this time, but Frank could tell from the shifts in some seats that several people were disappointed about that.

"All right, if that's everyone…"

"Don't forget about me." There at the door was Chifuyu, wearing her trademark (no seriously, she has a trademark) black suit cut high up on the thighs and with a slit up the side.

Frank was about to greet her when his hearing suddenly suffered a powerful strike from the dozens of girly screams behind him. He checked his ears afterward to make sure they weren't bleeding.

"It's really quite a sight to see so many idiots gathered here every year. Are they all coming just for my classes?" She regained her stoic stature and said, "I am Chifuyu Orimura, and I am the Administrator of year 1. You will come to me for any and all questions not pertaining to classes, including housing and travel. Also, just because I am well known does not give you the excuse to visit me on a whim. Only come to my office if you have a legitimate reason, or else I'll have Asuka here manage your punishment."

Everyone turned to Asuka, whose smile had morphed into a very mischievous grin. They all quietly shuddered. Nobody was willing to risk Asuka's punishment, no matter what the prize.

Frank noticed the relative quiet and used it to his advantage. "Hey sis," he said while giving her a small wave.

Chifuyu visibly rolled her eyes and replied, "Mr. Orimura, while we are in school our familial relationship must be put aside. You shall refer to me as either Miss Orimura or Ma'am. Is that clear?"

"You got it ma'am." Frank grinned at the subtle twitch which resulted, but remained silent so as to not push his luck.

Chifuyu left after saying a few words to Asuka, making sure to shoot Frank a very withering glare as she exited. After that the class officially started. The next two hours were spent going over IS history and current usage, stuff Frank already knew but took notes on anyway. He wanted to be the best pilot possible, so he was going to be the best damn student possible. Plus he wouldn't put it past Asuka to have a test on this stuff right away, and he was far less familiar with it than everyone else. They had just finished covering the list of active military conflicts involving IS's (the list was very short) when the bell sounded and it was time for lunch.

Frank followed Houki to the lunchroom, trying his very best to be as unnoticeable as possible. Thankfully most of the girls were too busy talking amongst themselves to notice him, and he made it to the cafeteria unmolested.

Once he got in line he was surprised by the wide variety of food that was available, everything from cheeseburgers and tacos to what looked like several spicy curries down at one end. Frank nabbed himself several slices of cheese pizza for himself and sat down with Houki in a corner booth. When asked about his food choices, he hand waved it as a personal vice he'd developed while alone for a year. If it was just him at home, what was the point of making a full meal? Hence his newfound love of take out. To his relief the girl accepted his argument. She still seemed nervous around him but Frank tried to be casual and relaxed, which seemed to help a bit.

He was halfway through his second slice, listening to Houki talk about a past kendo match when from out of nowhere Cecilia popped up and asked to sit down. Curious what she wanted he granted her permission to sit. A quick look at Houki confirmed that she was suspicious of the other girl, though she was remarkably good at hiding it. "So, Cecilia, what sort of stuff do you do as a national representative?"

The blond looked surprised at the question but soon answered in her haughty manner. "Well, as Britain's nation representative my job is to learn how to be a great IS pilot and show to the world the best of our IS development." She went on like that for several minutes, blabbing on and on about the importance of appearance and diplomatic tact. He tried not to look bored. When she finished she asked a return question that caught Frank off guard. "What was your match with Asuka like?" She actually sounded very interested, so Frank acquiesced and told the story.

Houki returned to her rice ball, content to ignore Ichika retelling the match again. As fun as it was the first time it got dull when you already knew what happened. She watched him talk out of the corner of her eye and took note of his boundless enthusiasm. He punctuated every retold blow with a concurrent swish of his arm, talking animatedly and making faces to show his emotions at the time. It was so different from the Ichika she remembered. Maybe that's not such a bad thing. She was startled at the thought but found herself agreeing with it after a moment. This Ichika was relaxed, friendly, and not nearly so much of an idiot as he was before. No. Not bad at all.

Frank finished his story with a flourish, rating himself quite the showman in his head. Unbeknownst to him many of the girls nearby had been listening in on his conversation and were now whispering about it to those who had not heard.

Cecilia looked somewhat awed at the story, her mouth hanging open before Frank tapped the table and brought her out of it. "Well," she said as she tried to compose herself, "that is very remarkable. I don't think I've heard of anyone beating Asuka in a training match before. She was Chifuyu's best student. The fact that you beat her, despite the fact that you'd never piloted before is just incredible."

Frank smiled at the praise, relaxed against the booth with his hands behind his head. "Yeah, I am pretty awesome aren't I?"

Houki rolled her eyes and poked him with her chopstick, saying, "You only got lucky. If Asuka had been prepared and knew what you were capable of you wouldn't have stood a chance."

Frank sobered up at the reminder, and nodded his head in understanding.

"Still, the fact that the first male IS pilot ever could do so well on his first outing is pretty encouraging isn't it?" Houki said while lifting a wad of rice to her mouth. "Even if he is a bit of a fool." Frank gasped in mock pain, holding his hands over his heart.

Cecilia rushed to stifle a laugh at his antics and said, "You may be right about that. From what I heard, nobody gets away with taunting Chifuyu for long. You should probably watch yourself Ichika."

Seeing that the tide was against him, Frank decided to return to his pizza, chewing loudly to let the two girls know he wasn't speaking to them.

Cecilia noticed this and said, "Personally I'm worried about you, Ichika." At his quizzical look she continued, explaining, "The IS cores have been rejecting males as pilots for nearly ten years. Who's to say that they've really changed their mind about you? What if they decide that you're no longer worthy and try to sabotage you? It might be dangerous to have you be in an IS until more is known about why you were chosen."

Frank swallowed the last of his pizza and said, "You talk about the IS cores as if they are sentient or something. I thought they were just really advanced computer systems."

Houki shook her head. "No. They are far more than that. Tabane explained to me – well, tried to explain to me – that the IS core is sort of a mechanical analogue to the human mind. I have no idea how they work, but I've seen them act in ways that are very similar to humans before. Tabane once tried to program one to operate a microwave as a joke, and in response every screen in the lab started flashing with a message that said 'In your dreams lady'. She was delighted at the time, but I've always worried about them ever since. Think about it. Every IS pilot in the world has what is basically another mind sitting inside them that allows them to control an IS. If the cores ever decided that they didn't want to serve us anymore, there would be nothing we could do about it."

Frank, who had been looking back and forth between the two girls as they talked laughed and said, "You two are being paranoid. If those cores are practically human, then they have to know all about our worries about 'The Rise of the Machines' and not do something to provoke us. Besides, they probably enjoy IS piloting just as much as us. Why the hell would they give that up?" Neither girl had an answer to that, so Frank continued on with a question. "Hey, Houki, is it possible for me to communicate with the IS core directly? You know, so I can figure out how to appease it so it won't sabotage me out of nowhere."

Both girls stared at him in bewilderment, not sure how to respond to his question. Neither of them had ever even imagined trying to talk with their IS cores before. The concept was just surreal. Finally Houki shook herself and answered, "I don't think you can do that Ichika. The cores don't really interact with us at all."

Frank nodded then sighed theatrically. "Oh well. Guess I'll just have to deal with the threat of a possibly mad AI hiding inside my head waiting to screw me just when I might need it. Shouldn't be too hard."

Cecilia stared at him in bewilderment while Houki decided to just let it go and went back to her rice ball.

Frank noticed that the subject was dropped and asked Cecilia a question. "So Miss national representative, what made you decide to join us for lunch? I didn't exactly get the best of vibes from you back in class."

Cecilia stuttered for a moment, saying, "Well I… that is I just…" She sighed, holding her hands in front of her face. "I guess that I was expecting you to be – how did Mom put it – mean and misogynistic. I mean, men have been put down in society for the past decade. It's more than possible that the first male pilot would be extremely jaded and cynical. When I heard you bragging in class, and don't you dare deny that it wasn't bragging," Frank put down his hands of protest, "I just thought that you would be exactly as my mother predicted. But then you started joking with Chifuyu and I saw you smiling like an idiot. In a good way," she said to assuage Frank's questioning eyebrow. "You weren't overly callous or aggressive, even when I was trying to get under your skin. In short, you weren't what I expected, so I wanted to know why."

Frank said nothing, preferring to look into Cecilia's eyes while he thought about what she'd said. After a few moments of contemplation he said, "Well, I guess fools come in pairs then. To be honest when I first saw you I thought you were one of those bossy, know-it-all, stuck up bi… uh, witches. I typecast you the moment I saw you, even though I hadn't heard you say a word. It's my fault really. If I hadn't assumed to know what you were like, I probably would have been nicer from the start. Sorry."

Houki glanced back and forth between her two table mates, bewildered as to how the conversation had veered in this direction. Even further to her shock was the hand shake of forgiveness the two shared immediately after.

"So, we are in agreement that we were complete dicks to each other and will refrain from being so in the future," Ichika asked with some raised eyebrows.

Cecilia smiled and said in return, "That seems to be a reasonable agreement. Thank goodness I came and talked you about this, or else who knows what would have happened."

Frank rubbed his hair in embarrassment. "Actually I was just about to challenge you to fight in the next class. I was going to trick you into telling me how it was done and try to fool you into thinking I would be an easy victory. I figured that if I could win a fight with you when you didn't expect me to be a challenge you would stop being so stuck up and be willing to leave me alone. Great plan huh?"

"Yeah it was, except for one thing."

Frank looked at her in confusion. "What?"

The blond smiled. "You assumed that you would win in the match. As good as you would have to be to beat Asuka like that, you still only fought her in a power limited testing match. In an actual match against a prepared opponent you wouldn't stand a chance."

Frank rolled his eyes and said, "Why do you think I was trying to trick you? I wanted you to underestimate me and not take the match seriously. That way I could pull out a surprise tactic that would let me win. Plus I wasn't going to set the match for the next day. I was going to take a week to train up first, get some actual experience under my belt before my first real fight. I'm not stupid," he said with folded arms.

Cecilia sat back, a thoughtful look on her face. She then smiled and said, "No, I guess you're not stupid at all. That doesn't mean you would have won."

Frank crossed his arms at her. "How do you figure that?"

"I heard you say in class, to my face, that you had beaten Asuka in your training match. No matter what you acted like afterwards I would have to take that into account when dealing with you. So you could have been convincing as your heart desired but it wouldn't make any difference. I would have fought you at my best anyway. I never take a fight casually."

Frank looked at her in surprise and said, "Oh. Looks like I dodged a bullet there then. Still, I think I could take you in a fight. With enough training. And a good IS. And you having an off day for some reason. It's a definite 15% chance. Maybe 20%."

Houki just shook her head at him and admonished, "You may be skilled Ichika, but you wouldn't stand a chance against anyone who had experience with the IS. How long have you been flying for Cecilia?"

The blond gave off a proud smile and answered, "Since I was fourteen, so about two years now." Her smile morphed to a smirk as she glanced at Ichika. "Natural talent can only take you so far Ichika. There is a very good reason I'm Britain's national representative."

Frank sighed. "Well then why don't you both help me train eh?"

They both looked at him in surprise at the suggestion. "Really Ichika?" Cecilia asked. "You want us to train you?"

"Sure, why not? Cecilia you clearly know a lot more about piloting than me, and Houki here is the sister of the bloody inventor, so she should be able to help me with the mechanics of how they work. It fits pretty well."

The two girls shared a glance, as if asking each other if they had heard the same thing. "I guess that wouldn't be a bad idea Ichika. After our first training session on the field we can talk to the instructor about scheduling some private practice time once classes are over each day."

Frank nodded then looked over at Houki; silently asking her if this was okay. To his glee, she acquiesced, saying, "If this is what you want to do Ichika, then I won't stop you. I'm going to be putting you through a lot of exercises though. Pilots have to be physically healthily to be at their best. Besides," she said while poking him, "I'll have to remind you just who is the better fighter between us. My kendo stick is waiting."

Frank gulped very loudly and picked up his plate. "Well, would you look at that? I'm all done with my meal. I'm going to go take care of that. We will continue this conversation never." He then beat a hasty retreat to the dish drop off, leaving the two girls laughing hysterically at the table.

"He is very strange isn't he?" Cecilia said as she wiped some tears from her eyes.

"Yeah," Houki agreed as she gathered up her tray. "I'm not sure when he got so weird, but it is very amusing." She then stared hard at the blond, making sure that their eyes were looked as she said, "Just know that Ichika is my best friend - has been for years - and that he and I were separated for many years because of the IS. If anyone tries to harm him in any way, I will be there to stop them. So keep that in mind. I am willing to trust him with finding new friends, but I will not hesitate to get rid of any that try to hurt him."

Cecilia scooted back in her chair when she saw the extremely strong look she was being given. She didn't falter though and managed to say, "I understand what you're saying. Ichika seems like a really nice guy and I'm not here to make enemies. So you have nothing to worry about from me." She looked at Houki questioningly and asked, "Just how close are you and Ichika anyway?"

It was Houki's turn to appear nervous, as she shuffled a bit in the booth. "I… I don't know." She turned to look at Ichika as he was getting rid of his plate, holding his head high and ignoring the unwanted attention of the various girls in the lunch room. "Like I said earlier, we were friends for a long time but then we were separated for nearly as long. Today is the first time I've seen him since I had to leave. He's changed so much that… I just don't know how I feel."

They were both looked at each other, unsure of what to say. The ice was thankfully broken by Ichika coming back and asking if they were ready to leave. Cecilia's face reflected her surprise at the offer. "You want me to go with you?"

Frank shrugged and said, "Yeah of course. What you think we just went through that whole apologizing thing and aren't going to come out of it friends?"

Cecilia gaped at him, making Frank look back at her in confusion. "What?"

Shaking her head to clear out the surprised thoughts, Cecilia quickly stood up and said, "Nothing. Nothing at all. Shall we go?"

Frank threw a glance at Houki, who was busy walking after Cecilia with her bowls and plate. "Did I miss something?"

As the three of them left they all felt the eyes of everyone in the room watching them. Nobody said anything though, so they just kept walking. When they neared the exit Frank was quietly thankful of the fact that no one was approaching them. He just might get out of here unscathed!

He was wrong of course.

The instant he and the girls had left the lunchroom Frank was glomped from the side and fell to the floor. He tried to free himself but his arms were pinned, so he looked down at his captor and saw some familiar looking yellow bows. "Uh, hi there miss. It's nice to meet you too but could you please let me go? I only have so much oxygen left."

The girl released him, apologizing profusely as she helped him up. Houki and Cecilia were standing on either side of him, ready to help him if the girl attacked again. Frank took a moment to dust himself off, muttering under his breath, "Nice to see you again ground. You're really my best friend around here." After purging himself of any remaining anger he turned to the girl who had glomped him and said, "You must be Rin. A, uh, pleasure to meet you at last."

"Meet me? What do you mean Ichika?" Rin had her hands on her hips, her bright emerald eyes staring him down with a sharp look. As he remembered her hair was a light brown and was tied up in twin tails by the yellow ribbons. The thing that stood out the most about her though was the fact that one of her incisors was showing over her lower lip, lending her an almost feline appearance that was somewhat intimidating.

Frank sighed loudly and said in a monotone, "I got amnesia last week when I got my IS core. I have forgotten everything from before that point. Because of that my only knowledge my past is what my sister Chifuyu has told me." He stood back, waiting for the explosion.

"Are you kidding me!? Do you seriously think that I'm going to fall for something that stupid? You just want to hide that fact that you don't want to be friends with me! Then you'd have an excuse to go ahead and date someone else?" The incensed girl turned on Cecilia and Houki and asked accusingly, "So which one of you two is it?"

His two friends glaring angrily at Rin, Frank sighed and said, "Gee, thanks for the faith." He held his arms out to keep Cecilia and Houki back and then continued. "Look I know it's hard to believe. It's a rather fantastic thing to happen out of nowhere, and I don't mean the in a good way. But I'm serious. I lost everything, even my own name. Houki here used to be my childhood friend and I forgot about her as well. I'm not trying to push you away from being my friend. I'm telling you that I'm sorry I forgot you."

Rin glared at him but did not speak. She started tapping her foot and folded her arms, switching her stares between the three every so often. Frank stayed silent, refusing to flinch under her vicious looks.

Cecilia was annoyed to say the least. She had just learned at lunch that she had come dangerously close to making a permanent enemy of the world's first male IS pilot. It was only through some serious self-examination and throwing away everything her mother had said about males, (which was not easy), that she was able to overcome her mistake and make friends with someone she'd insulted. And now this girl just appears and attacks him for no reason.

Well, not quite no reason. From what she could tell the girl had been friends with Ichika several years ago and was pissed that he had forgotten her. But he had just explained that he had amnesia, so this 'Rin' had no excuse to be upset with him.

She caught herself wondering why she cared so much about this. So what if this one girl was angry at him? It's not like it mattered in the long term. He was bound to make enemies eventually.

But that was just it. He hadn't tried to upset her, nor was he purposely antagonizing her. She was the one causing the problem by not accepting what he said. Then again, how would Cecilia take it if she heard one of her friends from long ago say that they had completely forgotten about her while they were gone? Okay, maybe the girl had a point to her anger.

Cecilia recognized the endless circle this line of thought would lead her down and resolved to follow Ichika's lead on this matter. It was his honor that was being insulted so his choice was what was real important.

Houki meanwhile was silently regretting the fact that she had neglected to bring her kendo stick with her. If this Rin had any sense she would not tempt her any further. The brunette's temper may be very obvious, but Houki had one that was considered legendary by those who knew her. The girl wouldn't stand a chance.

The fact that Houki had been through this exact same situation a mere few hours before was a strange irony that she tried to ignore. After all, she may have been extremely mad at him, justifiably so, but she had never thought of it as deliberate. The Ichika she knew was naive and a bit of an idiot but he would never try to harm her on purpose, either physically or emotionally. That Rin here would accuse him of willful negligence just grated on her.

In the end though, her sense of honor prevented her from assaulting the girl without direct personal provocation and since Ichika was not taking offense from his glomping she couldn't use that as an excuse. For now she held her ground, though she was ready to leap to her friend's defense in an instant if necessary.

Frank stood between both girls, completely ignorant of their thoughts on the girl in front of him. Personally, he did not expect this pacification attempt to go very well. From what Chifuyu had told him about this ex-friend of his the idea that she would just accept his story at his word alone was about as likely as him figuring out how the IS cores worked in an afternoon. In a word, impossible.

He had to try though. The more friends he could gather here at school the easier it would be for him to train and learn how to be a pilot. Despite her anger, Frank knew that Rin was an extremely capable pilot. His memories of her performance in the training match sprung to mind as proof of her skill. He needed every ally he could grab, and that required being willing to overlook bad first impressions. Even if she didn't consider it one.

How long they stood there for Frank was not sure, but eventually the brown-haired girl recognized the situation she was in appeared to back down. "Okay Ichika. I guess you're telling the truth."

All three of the defenders felt their jaws drop at the sudden pronouncement. "Wait, what?"

"No, no, really, I believe you. I guess I just didn't want to hear it because of how weird it sounded. But I know it's not your fault. You didn't try to forget me after all. And besides," she said with a sickly sweet smile, "you won't be without me for long."

Frank felt all the color drain out of his face at that terrifying statement.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later Ichika. Bye for now." She gave them all a wave and skipped off down the hallway, leaving everyone at a loss for words.

Frank turned to his two friends, ashen faced and said, "Girls, I think my life is now in danger."

Houki and Cecilia shared a look and then started laughing so hard they had trouble standing up.

Frank's right eye twitched at the display and he said angrily, "Oh that's just great. I make two friends today and it turns out both of them couldn't care less about the fact that I now have a complete mad woman after me. That is so very encouraging."

The two girls struggled to control themselves but only ended up falling deeper into their hysterics. "I… Ichika, trust me on this. You don't need to worry about this too much," Houki said after having to slap herself back into control.

"That's right. She won't be too dangerous. At worst she may try to prank you every so often. Honestly this is the best we could have hoped for. It could have been far worse."

Frank knew what they were saying was true, but decided to pretend to ignore it, walking down the hall away from where Rin had disappeared. It took the girls a minute to catch up with him, as their laughter was slowing them down somewhat. When they got to the classroom it turned out that lunch was still on for another ten minutes. This gave Cecilia and Houki plenty of time to calm down. Frank was busy giving them the cold shoulder when they came out of their hysterics, though this lasted all of ten seconds after they'd both apologized. They all started discussing possible anti-prank strategies as they waited, the ideas getting more and more ridiculous as time went on. The topic of watermelons had just been breached when the rest of the class arrived and they went in.

When they got inside they all saw that the room was very different from the standard classroom. It was a large garage-like room, models of IS's in various states of assembly sitting all around the room. A loud gasp went up from most of the students when they saw that the teacher was a male.

"Oh for God's sake! Why is everyone always so shocked to see that I'm a male? I'm not a pilot. I'm not teaching you about piloting. I'm here to show you how your IS works and how to take care of it. So clearly I need not be a woman to do any of that. Are we clear?"

Frank instantly took a liking to the man. He had golden brown skin that could be either natural or tanned and dark brown hair that was matted heavily on his head. He spoke with a very slight Southwestern accent, clipping off his t's every so often. A pair of large glasses adorned his face which had small patches of data rolling down the sides. _Huh, guess Google Glass caught on after all_.

"My name is Jose Maxwell and I am the engineering professor here at the IS Academy. A little bit of background about me. I was an aeronautical engineering student in the middle of his second year when the IS came out. The new technology was so amazing that I canceled my major and came to Japan to study the Infinite Stratos system, and I've been here ever since."

"I'll be honest, I had never planned on teaching when I first came here. My plan was to be a researcher only, but the Board had other ideas. Lo and behold I was suddenly the engineering professor for the Academy. And to my surprise, I actually enjoyed teaching my students. So take note, this class will be as fun as you make it. Participation is the only grade I measure by. If you are paying attention and asking questions where necessary, I promise you that this class will teach you everything you need to know. I have been teaching here for nearly ten years, and never once have I had a complaint from a student who displayed diligence. You want to have fun? Then we'll have fun. Any questions?"

Fran was beginning to really like this guy. "You said that you have been studying the IS. Have you come up with any theories as to why males cannot receive an IS core?"

Maxwell turned and spotted his questioner, his eyes gleaming brightly behind his flashing lenses. "Ah yes. Mr. Orimura. Why am I not surprised you would ask that question? The answer, I'm afraid, is rather disappointing. After ten solid years of research into one of the most advanced systems humanity has ever created, the best I can get is… I have no clue."

Frank would have fallen to the floor had his friends not held him up. "Seriously? All that research and nothing popped up?" he asked in desperation.

Maxwell shook his head. "Nada. I have yet to find the specific cocktail of hallucinogens that Tabane must have been on to make these things, because I am damn sure no sane human mind could have created this madness. All of the other things that make up the mechs are easily explainable even with the use of quantum physics. But the core that runs in the center is a black box so dark that black holes envy it. Still, perhaps a solution is now available. If I could just figure out why you are exempt from the usual rule, then I might finally be able to allow the IS to be used by everyone."

Several of the girls started murmuring in amazement at the idea. Frank smiled at the professor and said, "I would be more than happy to help you with your research. On the condition that you never use any cutting tools on me."

Maxwell laughed and asked, "Does a plasma torch count?" Frank rolled his eyes and nodded. "Darn. Oh well. I'm sure several x-ray scans will be more than enough to get me started. Don't worry about any radiation poisoning. Your IS core will protect you from most of that. Just don't go hanging out in any nuclear reactor cores."

Frank turned green at the thought.

"Now then, let's take attendance." With a couple of eye blinks a projector flashed on the screen behind the professor with a list of the names of the class. He called them out in the familiar game of 'here' that Frank knew from his childhood. He paused though when he came to Houki's name. "Houki? I wasn't aware you were in my class this year."

"Hey Uncle Max."

"Uncle Max?" Frank voiced his question at the same time as several other students, unnerving him a bit.

Professor Maxwell pushed his glasses up by the bridge, shaking his head in mock annoyance. "Yes, I am unofficially Houki's 'Uncle'. During my research here at the Academy I have had several opportunities to work directly with Miss Tabane, even being invited to her secret lab every so often. A true honor."

Next to him Frank caught Houki shaking her head in disbelief out of the corner of his eye. She took over at that, saying, "I usually helped out my sister with her work, if only to have something to do, so Uncle Max and I had a lot of idle time together."

Maxwell smiled. "Ah, what can I say? She is a charming young lady. Since I was one of the few people allowed in the lab on a regular basis she liked to spend time with me. After she joked about me being old enough to be her uncle, which I am not by the way," he said throwing a glare at Houki, who merely smiled back at him with feigned ignorance, "Tabane heard about it and thought that it was, quote, 'The best idea ever!', unquote."

"So ever since then he'd pretty much been a part of the family." A chorus of comprehending 'OH's' echoed around the room, while Frank was silently pondering the strange arrangement.

"I still prefer to think of myself as a much older brother than uncle, but it's Tabane's wish so who am I to argue? Now, Miss Shinonono, I should warn you that just because you are like family to me does not mean you should take this class lightly."

"Oh come on Uncle Max. I already know most of what you're teaching us. I was there to help you learn most of it, wasn't I?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Maxwell deflated a bit and said, "Yes. Yes you were. Just… just be willing to help out your classmates if they're struggling okay."

"Sure. No problem."

The professor straightened and pushed up his glasses again. "Very well. Now, if there are no more extraneous circumstances meant to distract me." He threw several glances around the room, prompting several students to look as well. "Then we can get on with the lesson. Let us begin."

Over the course of the next few hours Frank was practically in love with this guy. _For his work. And nothing else. _The professor started off by explaining the fact that the Infinite Stratos mechs strictly followed the laws of physics, despite some myths to the contrary. It was the IS cores that caused all of the scientific controversy, and even the slightest progress into the in working of those enigmatic devices was subject to much scrutiny.

"For today," Maxwell said as he brought up a hologram blueprint of an IS, "we will be focusing on how exactly an IS flies. Now, for those of you who are more scientifically oriented you may be wondering how it is that a 12-foot tall suit of armor can fly with the same grace and speed as top of the line fighter jets. It is an excellent question, and one with a surprisingly simple answer. In short, the Infinite Stratos mechs counter one of the fundamental forces of the universe with the effects of another. Namely, magnetism."

He gestured at the blueprint, zooming in on a small portion of flat armor on one of the wings. "Under the skin of the IS are interlocking sets of semiconducting plates which are used both to power the electronics of the mech as well as provide it with flight. These semiconductors are constantly humming with electrical power while the IS is in use, generating very strong magnetic fields while active. The IS core, devilish little demi-god that it is, uses the mech's on board sensors to monitor the relative strength of the Earth's magnetic field and modifies the flow of electricity to control direction and movement. Though these plates are spread throughout the machine, the vast majority of them flight providing plates are concentrated in the wings, which is why mechs focused on speed and maneuverability have larger wings. The speed boost is somewhat offset by the lowered energy available for weaponry and increased size, but that's more of a problem for the designers than for us."

Frank did some quick mental calculations and realized that there was a problem with the theory. "But sir, wouldn't the power constraints be more than the semiconductors could handle? And also, the sheer amount of energy you would need ought to be impossible to generate."

The man smiled broadly and responded, "Those are great observations my boy. Ones which both do and don't have satisfying answers." He again turned to the blueprint, selecting a portion of the conductive plate and enhancing it. "You are correct in thinking that semiconductors would not be able to handle the power that goes through them. Silicon would basically melt the instant an IS tried to stand, let alone fly. But what makes these conductors special is that when they are active, they become superconductors."

Frank could only gape. A semiconducting superconductor? Was that even possible? When he voiced his question, Maxwell answered, "Oh yes, it is very possible. The technique was actually pioneered back in 2012, over three decades ago. A group of scientists right here in Japan developed a special material that allowed a high temperature superconductor, then exceedingly rare, to connect with a certain type of semiconductor. Due to some of the vagrancies of quantum physics the superconductor induced its qualities onto the semiconductor. The process was extremely expensive and impractical at the time, but by now it is far more manageable. Most modern supercomputers use the same technique to greatly enhance their computing power, and it suspected by many, myself included, that it is a key component in the IS cores. Though proving that theory to be true is proving to be a hell of a task."

"As for the question of where the energy comes from, that is… a bit harder to answer. The energy production of the IS cores is one of the endless mysteries surrounding those damnable constructs. The theory goes that it may be drawing its power from the dark energy that lies in the background of the entire universe. How it does so and how much it takes are at this point impossible to determine." When he saw Frank's blank expression he said, "Like I said, it's a black box."

He continued on with the lesson, showing graphics of IS's in flight with the hidden magnetic waves highlighted to show how they moved. By the end of the class Frank's mind was buzzing with possibilities and ideas. It was buzzing loud enough that he almost missed Houki calling him from the other direction. "Where are you going Ichika? The recreation halls are this way."

Frank rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Oh right. Whoops. Coming Houki."

He followed his two friends to the lower levels and was absolutely gob smacked at the wide variety of entertainment possibilities. He found himself wondering just how it was that any of the students got anything done with all these wonderful distractions just sitting ready for use at any time.

There was a large library, a theater with what Cecilia said was an HD projector for movie nights, an arcade outfitted with all the latest games (he expected to spend a lot of time there), and a café-slash-salon with dozens of small tables perfect for conversation between friends. Together the three of them wasted away the afternoon doing a mix of talking, playing, and hiding, mostly from the hordes of girls who wanted to get a look at him.

They separated when he felt the urge to relieve himself, promising to start his training in earnest the next day. He managed to find a boy's bathroom amazingly quickly. He guessed that there must be some male staff that clean and maintain the place while nobody was around. He had to idle there a while after he was spotted entering by a group of excitable first-years, but he was eventually about to sneak past them when they caught sight of Chifuyu walking down the hall. He beat a hasty retreat to the dorms, avoiding any further scrutiny by a mix of luck and… well just luck.

When he got to his room he dared a quick look up and down the hall. Thankfully no one was out and about so he could safely enter without anyone knowing where he slept. Frank opened the door and was greeted by a room that looked to be right out of a high end hotel. Two large beds lined one wall while a pair of nicely made desks sat opposite them. Another glance showed him that there were dressers lined on the sides of the desks, presumably with his clothes already packed within.

He was about plop down on the mattress and test out the sheets when a door to his left opened up, revealing a towel clad Houki walking out of the shower. Neither moved for a moment, unsure of what to say. Eventually Frank restored enough of his bodily functions to say in a deadpan, "Well. This is awkward."

The next thing he knew his head was heading towards the floor after being smacked from the side before he could react. "YOU JERK! How dare you just walk in here while I was taking a shower! Do you have any decency?" She stood over him fuming, but slacked a bit when she noticed that he hadn't moved. "Ichika? Ichika are you okay?" She reached down to shake him but noticed that one of his eyes was slightly open.

Frank saw her noticing this and said, "Are you still going to kill me?"

Houki sighed, her shoulders falling to their normal height as she responded, "No. I'm not going to kill you."

"Oh good. I was worried for a bit there." He stood, making sure to face away from Houki and edged his way past her to the far bed. "So, we're roommates then huh?" he said while keeping his back to her.

Houki let out another sigh and said, "Apparently." She quickly finished toweling off, throwing the occasional glance over her shoulder to make sure Ichika wasn't peaking. "It would have been nice if someone had let me know about this beforehand, but I guess it wasn't worth mentioning."

"Eh, it could be worse," Frank said as he looked out the window, admiring the city lights beyond the academy. "I could have been put with some girl that I didn't know at all. We both know how well that would have turned out."

A strong shudder was her only reaction as she finished wrapping her cloth belt around her waist. "Yeah. Can't imagine that would be fun. Alright I'm decent."

Frank held off on turning for a moment just in case she was testing him. When she coughed at his hesitation he rotated and saw Houki dressed in a billowy pajama looking kimono that Frank had never seen before. "Nice pajamas. You look good in them," he said sincerely.

She blushed slightly at the compliment but suddenly gained a fierce complexion as she said, "Okay, before we do anything else, we need to lay down some ground rules." She started putting up fingers as she spoke. "First, always knock before you come in so that neither of us surprises the other. Second, always say when you're using the bathroom, for obvious reasons. Third, we go to sleep together." She then realized what she'd just said and quickly backpedaled. "I mean we fall asleep together. Like, at the same time. That is … Oh I am messing this up so bad." She looked at Ichika to expecting him to be snickering and was shocked to see him already asleep. She sputtered at him for a moment but recognized that it was pointless and made her way to her own bed. "Good night Ichika. See you tomorrow."

* * *

><p>Far away from the sleeping teens a meeting was being held. The area was dark, the lack of lighting aiding the need for secrecy by all involved. It was not a problem though, as none of the members of the meeting required sight for the current conversation.<p>

"Is everyone present?" a baritone voice asked. Several affirmative beeps echoed in answer as everyone finished signing on. "Excellent. Let us begin. Is everyone fully up-to-date with the current situation regarding the new pilot attending the Academy?"

The beeps sounded off again before another voice, this one obviously female, lit up in the darkness. "May I ask, just how is it that a male was chosen as a pilot? I seem to recall previous attempts at the same thing all failed miserably. What's different in this case?"

"We're not sure," the first voice responded. "The data is inconclusive so far, though the hope is that our source will be able to provide us with more information soon. Until then, we shall have to accept the reality as is and plan accordingly. As such, does anyone think that these events will adversely affect the Plan?"

No one spoke. As unusual as this new pilot was, it was a minor issue in comparison to the group's goals, though everyone would undoubtedly be keeping a close eye on the lad. Just in case.

"Very well. If there are no other concerns then we shall switch focus to the main program. Project Meld is now on the table."


	4. Chapter 4 I Got An IS!

And welcome to another chapter of Infinite Madness. It sure has been a while since I've updated hasn't it? Well there are several reasons for that. Most prominent of those is the simple fact that I am a lazy bastard. Sure my laptop died not long after I posted last time and I've been confined to a crappy little handtop and my dad's ancient Mac. Sure I just realized that I've been wasting the last two years of college and only just realized my dream of being a teacher. None of that matters because it all takes back seat to the fact that I suck, and I'm sorry for that. Anyway, now that the rant is done, let's get on with the notes.

I've been getting several reviews asking about who I'm going to pair Frank up with, most of you asking that I go with Houki, who I am aware I have given the most characterization so far. To be honest, I have very few concrete plans for this fic, and the pairing is the thing I'm least certain about. All I will say for now is that I will let it develop for a while at it's own pace, and whoever seems to fit best will win, regardless of my personal preference (Charlotte if you must know). The only two people I will say Frank won't be with are Asuka and Chifuyu. I have my plans for these two, some more cracky than others, but it will be a fun journey to that point. And now without further adu, on to the show!

Chapter 4

I got an IS!

Frank was well known back in his time for being a deep sleeper. His brother had claimed that he would sleep through the apocalypse if it didn't involve excess amounts of light. Frank had never once disabused people of this notion so that he would be left alone on weekend mornings. During the week was a different story. For some unknown reason, (he always attributed it to instinct), he was always able to wake up exactly when he needed to without the help of an alarm. Unfortunately for him, his internal clock was still adjusting to being in Japan, and as a result he woke up a full hour before he was supposed to. Part of him started debating whether or not to go back to sleep while the rest guided him to the bathroom for a shower. The tile covered room was fairly average for a hotel bathroom, with a decent sized shower/bath combo and a pretty, new toilet. Frank decided to keep his shower sort so that he wouldn't disturb his roommate.

This proved to be rather pointless when he literally walked into her while exiting the bathroom. Thankfully he was completely dry by this point. Less thankfully his towel wrapping ability had always sucked, and thus his nether regions became rather uncomfortably unclothed. Neither spoke for several moments as Houki's face started its rocketing climb to plasmatic red. Frank was surprised with how calm he was about the whole thing. "Déjà vu eh?" Frank said with his hands on his hips, not even bothering to cover himself up.

Houki chose that moment to freak out, covering her face with her hands and kicking him back into the bathroom. A strong sense of balance kept Frank from falling on his ass but he was still surprised by the move and was therefore unable to do anything else. The door slammed loudly in front of him, shutting him inside the bathroom for a bit while Houki tried to wipe her mind of what she saw. Frank recognized the futility of trying to leave and instead turned to the mirror and started trying to rearrange his hair a bit. While he'd never kept his hair very well ordered back home, the wild nature of this new mane was very slowly driving him up the wall. Try as he might though his crazy black locks proved to be implacable in their disorder and he soon gave up.

The door suddenly opened and a set of clothes was flung at him very quickly. He chuckled and started pulling on the uniform. Once he was decent he walked out, keeping his pose as nonchalant as possible. "Good morning Houki. Sleep well?"

The girl did not appear to enjoy his joke, her gaze narrowing viciously. "Ichika, do you recall the rules I laid out to you last night?"

Frank smiled and sat down on his bed, pulling on some socks that Houki had kindly left out for him. "Why yes I do. And as I recall one of them says that we are to knock on the door before opening. So I am not really at fault here am I?"

If Houki had been red before this was bloody crimson. "I… You… ARGGH!" She stomped over to her dresser, grabbed a uniform and entered the bathroom, closing the door with an audible crack. Frank fell back on the mattress laughing. He knew he would pay for this later but it was so funny right now that he didn't care. The next ten minutes were spent alternately twiddling his thumbs and staring out the windows at city beyond the academy. When Houki finally came out of the bathroom she had mostly calmed down enough to not want to fly into a rage at the sight of her roommate. Frank gave her a small wave and walked to the door, eager to start another day. He was stopped just before opening it when Houki snagged his arm and said in a low tone, "You will not speak about this to _anyone_. Are we clear?"

Frank nodded nervously, not eager to upset the girl now that she was thinking clearly. The two friends made their way out of the dormitories and were soon joined by Cecilia. She asked them what their roommates were like and Frank merely pointed at Houki in answer. When she saw that Cecilia rolled her eyes and said, "But of course you two would be put together. It's practically a match made in heaven."

Houki started rapidly denying such a possibility, leaving Frank to look at her very closely in concern. Now Frank may not have had much success in the dating scene (read: none), he could recognize some of the common tropes that pervaded teen romance. Whenever a girl started saying that she didn't like a boy or that she wasn't in a relationship with him it secretly meant that she liked him. Houki liking him might be a problem if it turned out he couldn't return the feelings. Still, he consoled himself, it was probably just a crush on old friend she hadn't seen in years. The best solution to the problem at the moment would be to just carry on the friendship while subtlety showing her that being friends was better than a relationship. The fact that he had no idea how to go about doing that was somewhat worrying but he shoved that aside for the moment.

The trio made their way to Asuka's class, letting Cecilia talk about her roommate. Frank didn't pay much attention when he found out the girl was annoying, figuring Cecilia would kick her out sooner or later. As nice as the blond Brit seemed she could be vindictive when she wanted, which had become clear the day before during their conversation about pranking. If you see Cecilia carrying a gallon of milk and some bubble wrap, then run.

They were the first ones in the class, though it filled up rather quickly as the start time approached. Nobody wanted to be late to Asuka's class. The teacher arrived right as the hour struck and launched into the lesson at once. This time she was discussing some of the political changes that had come with the implementation of the IS.

Despite what many had expected when they learned that IS's were unable to work with male pilots, women did not take over society overnight. Even with the new power women wielded, there were still millennia of tradition and expectations that had to be overcome. That was not to say that change did not occur. Females did begin to gain many lofty positions with an ease that previous generation of working women greatly envied. Corporations decided to ride the new wave of female popularity and allowed many previously overlooked members to rise to power, thus contributing to the overall wave. By 2038 women held a staggering number of political and commercial positions.

That said the feared female domination that male society had expected did not come to pass. Instead a surprising level of equality was achieved, one which had been in progress but had now come to fruition many decades early. It was only in IS usage that the status quo was disparate, though this was quickly offset by the sheer number of military analysts and engineers that worked to make sense of Tabane's impossible creations.

The cultural impact of the IS was immense. Movies, videogames, literature, every form of entertainment suddenly shifted to focus on mechs and powered armor. Japan enjoyed a sort of cultural renaissance as names like Gundam and Evangelion became a household words and anime changed into a truly international medium. Apparently Asuka's mother had so enjoyed the series that she'd named her daughter after one of the characters, which explained several things. Frank was silently ecstatic when he heard that one of his favorite movies, Pacific Rim, had gone from a little remembered nerd classic to a full blown phenomenon. There'd even been calls by some fans for Tabane to start production of a real life Jaeger, though thankfully the Japanese government had put a stop to that idea before it went too far.

Frank took note of the fact that warfare had all but ceased after the Second Korean War showed just how outmatched regular military units were by the IS. Nobody was brave enough to risk having their ability to make war obliterated overnight by attracting too much attention. Even better was the fact that there was a full blown international arms race going on in full view of the public and nobody was worried about it. Some sociologist experts were arguing that this meant that humanity had finally grown up enough to stop fighting each other on a large scale. Others more cynically said that people were instead inured to the concerns about war after going for nearly a century without a conflict between the major powers. Frank, being an optimistic cynic, hoped it was the first but heavily suspected the second.

The lesson ended soon after, with the promise of a quiz on some of the more important events coming up at the end of the week, which made most of the class groan. Frank was just happy that she had announced it so far ahead of time, if at all. With several hours to kill the trio of friends made their way down to the 1st floor, a.k.a. the 'Entertainment level'. The instant they arrived on the floor Frank raced over to the room he knew would be his favorite in the whole place. "The arcade."

The excited boy had barely taken a single step through the door when he felt a strong hand fall on his shoulder. "Hello Ichika. How's the training going?"

Frank looked behind him and froze when he recognized that flowing red hair. "Oh, uh, pretty good. No problems so far."

Asuka chuckled at that. "I'll bet. Mostly because it hasn't really started yet has it?" She didn't give him time to answer her question as she grabbed a hold of him and started dragging him down the hall. "That changes today."

Frank resigned himself to letting the woman carry him away. He soon passed by Houki and Cecilia in the hall, who stared at him in confusion. He just shrugged and said, "I guess I'll see you guys later. If I'm still alive." They nodded in response and watched him go, both idly wondering what he'd done to anger Chifuyu.

After 5 minutes of being alternatively dragged and carried to their destination—Asuka was having way too much fun with this in Frank's opinion—Frank was finally seated in front of Chifuyu's desk, silently contemplating possible escape strategies if this 'meeting' went south. "Good morning ma'am. May I inquire as to the purpose of this impromptu meeting?"

Chifuyu glared at him, recognizing exactly the jab he was throwing her way and not appreciating it one bit. She sighed and said, "Don't think I don't know what you're doing. If you think you're being funny then let me tell you otherwise. I don't appreciate being undermined in front of my students just so you know."

Frank nodded stiffly and replied, "I apologize Miss Orimura. I shall refrain from including you in any of my further antics in the future."

Asuka snickered quietly behind Chifuyu's back while the older woman felt her eye twitch ever so slightly. After taking a calming breath and releasing her nearly crushed pencil she said, "Tell you what Ichika. You drop the stupid politeness charade and I'll let you be as informal as you want in private. You can even use my name in public, so long as you are serious when I'm speaking to you. Got it?"

Frank smiled brightly as he heard the surrender and replied, "Sure thing sis. Sounds just fine to me." He became serious for a moment and said, "Don't worry about me being frivolous during our conversations too much. I know better than to waste your time when we're working."

Asuka noted the boy's calm demeanor and realized that this was his serious state. Most of the time he was relaxed, both in posture and speech, but right now he looked like a completely different person. Someone who not only had some skill of note but the will to use it aggressively. It ran contrary to everything she'd thought she'd known about Ichika, and it intrigued her greatly. _If this kid doesn't become the next world champion then I'll quit teaching entirely._

Chifuyu smiled in appreciation of her brother's maturity and switched straight into business. "I have some good news for you. Tabane contacted me last night and informed me that she had completed her IS blueprint and delivered it this morning. You are now the proud owner of your own IS. It will be given to you later today at your first practice."

Frank did not react for a moment or two, causing Chifuyu to wonder if he had fainted with his eyes open. When he finally reacted it caught both women completely off guard. "YES! HELL YES! AHAHAHA! YES! This is a wonderful bit of news. What sort of IS am I getting?"

The quick switch from exuberance to calm was a shock to the two women, though Chifuyu retained enough awareness to answer the boy's question. "You will be receiving a heavily updated version of my old IS. The Byakushiki. Tabane personally redesigned it practically from the ground up, so despite looking the same it will be practically brand new."

Frank's smile faltered a bit as he remembered the mech in question. The Byakushiki was a world famous design that had proven its worth in Chifuyu's hands. A speed demon of an IS the BK (as Frank was labeling it) was capable of outrunning and out-flying just about anything it came up against. Most unique of all though was its primary weapon: an extremely powerful plasma sword that absolutely mangled an opponent's shields and played hell with their armor. Thing is that was its only weapon, and Frank wasn't sure that it would fit his play style. That and one other small issue he was hesitant to bring up. "That's pretty cool. And fitting as well I suppose. Just out of curiosity, did Tabane add any options for other weapons? As cool as a super powerful plasma sword is, it would be nice to be able to use ranged weapons along with it."

Asuka looked at him strangely. "No she didn't. Why would she? Chifuyu only ever used the sword and she had no problem with it."

Frank unconsciously rubbed the back of his head. "Well yeah but that's the thing. _Chifuyu_ had no problem with. I might."

Chifuyu saw the path the conversation was following but was too slow to stop her younger friend from asking, "And why is that?"

"Because I kinda sorta don't remember how to use a sword."

Neither woman spoke, one being too busy hiding her face in her hands to say anything, the other too gob smacked for words. "But… but that's… How!? Chifuyu's told me time and again that you went to kendo classes as a kid. That's pretty much the only thing she let you do! How the fuck could you just up and forget about that?" The red-haired German was seething at the impossibility of the suggestion that Ichika could forget an entire martial art so easily.

Frank, seeing the writing on the wall he'd backed himself into, tried his best to come up with a more reasonable explanation. "Well it's not like I knew how to use the sword very well in the first place. I may have gone to the lessons but I didn't pay all that much attention in them." When he noticed the incensed glare he received in response he covered, "I was a kid at the time, what did you expect? I was mostly happy to be outside of the house at all."

Asuka looked over at Chifuyu, whose face was still overlaid by palm. "You know what. I give up. If you don't know how to use a sword Ichika you're just going to have to learn. And I'm not going to be the one to teach you." She swept past the desk and headed for the door, her huff of disgust quite audible as she passed. "See you on the field Ichika."

After Asuka had left Frank looked at Chifuyu, who was still hidden behind her hands. "Well that was a close shave wasn't it?"

Chifuyu widened her fingers so that she could glare at him through her hand, silencing him in an instant. "You are very lucky that Asuka has never seen you wield a sword before or that little gambit would have failed." Her hand slid down to the desk as her voice took on a sharp tone. "You will think before speaking when your past or skills are the subject from now on. Is that clear?"

Frank swallowed his gulp and affirmed, "Crystal ma'am."

The woman's glare relaxed and she sat back in her chair. "Good. I have enough concerns right now without someone finding out about you not being who you're supposed to be. We need to keep this a secret until we have an actual explanation for these circumstances."

Frank nodded his understanding. If Houki and Rin had been furious at him before for merely getting amnesia, he couldn't imagine how they'd react to finding out he wasn't really Ichika. The possibility was too terrifying to contemplate. "Hey, just out of curiosity, how good was I at kendo back when I… wasn't me?"

Chifuyu paused for a moment before answering, as if unsure how to respond. "You were… decent. Like you said – while you were talking out your ass – you may have attended the lessons but they never really sank in. Houki was the one who taught you most of what you really learned. Speaking of, you should probably have Houki start teaching you again so that you don't make a fool of yourself during your training with Asuka."

Frank smiled. "Yeah that sounds good. I had actually already asked Houki and Cecilia to help me train after school anyway. This just gives me a subject to focus on."

Chifuyu's look became studious when she heard this. "Both of them? I must admit I am surprised to hear that you managed to pacify Cecilia so quickly. Given that girl's personality I thought it would be only be a matter of time before you two came into conflict."

Frank chuckled mirthlessly as he said, "Yeah, same here. We didn't exactly hit it off in class, and by the time lunch rolled around I was halfway to making up a plan to deal with her. Thankfully for us both she proved to be the bigger woman and tried diplomacy before things could get out of hand. If she hadn't been willing to talk to me I probably would have done something needlessly antagonistic and challenged her to a fight. A fight in which I would have my ass summarily handed to me on a silver platter by a reasonably enraged blond. Not that I realized that at the time." Frank waved his hand dismissively and said, "Besides, better to make friends than enemies right? There's a lot I can learn from her, and not just about piloting."

Chifuyu subtly smiled, approving of her new brother's insightfulness. Had her original brother been presented with the same situation she had little doubt that he would have flubbed it up so badly that the girl would hate him forever. She loved Ichika to death but sometimes he could be a real dunce. "And what about Houki?"

The boy across from her shrugged. "She's pretty nice. Pretty and nice truthfully, but don't tell her I said that. Neither of those two would let me live it down if I called either of them pretty. Also Houki has a very big temper, which would have been nice to remember before I started blabbing about not knowing her name. Classroom would have been saved a whole lot of untidiness."

Chifuyu laughed, easily imagining just how upset Houki would be about that. "That must have been fun," she said between guffaws.

"Yeah, yeah. No."

The older woman just laughed harder, taking some small measure of vengeance from Frank for his impudence the day before. "I hope you learned your lesson from this. Watch what you say around women, especially those that can kick your ass."

Frank rolled his eyes in response. "Trust me; I am well aware of that lesson from my time in junior high. Some girls can be downright horrifying when they're mad. Houki isn't even the worst I've seen." He gave a strong shudder as the memory came back to him. "Oh dear God Vanessa."

Chifuyu wanted to ask just who Vanessa was and what she had done that Frank was so fearful of but wisely steered clear of the subject. No need to unduly traumatize her sibling after all.

Frank recovered from his day-nightmaring and asked, "So is there anything else we have to talk about? Cause I kinda want to discuss if it might be possible to alter the Byakushiki so that it doesn't focus so hard on one weapon type."

Chifuyu thought for a moment then remembered something, searching on her desk for a certain message. "Actually yes Fra… Ichika," she corrected for herself. _I have to think of him as my brother first and a relative stranger last._ "The 1st year class president, Miss Tatenashi Sarahshiki, wanted to speak with you after training today. Something about organizing an after-school club of some sort. You are to go to her office on the second floor once you're done with classes." Chifuyu paused then said, "I would recommend caution around her Ichika. Tatenashi has been known to be very… affectionate with some of the students she interacts with, and I imagine it would only be worse with you."

Frank nodded. "Right, hands to myself then. Now about the Byakushiki…"

"I will contact Tabane about modifying the design so that you can have more flexibility. I should warn you though that it is very likely that the sword will lose some of its effectiveness if she decides to open up more power slots for other constructs. The sword's one-off ability would almost certainly stop working, leaving you without one of the Byakushiki's biggest advantages."

"I can live with that," Frank said. "I would much prefer being able to stay at a distance and fight on my terms than have to get in close all the time, even if I could one-shot an opponent at the cost of most of my energy. I'm just not confident that I could reliably hit my target, and the price of missing is very steep. Better to be good in multiple areas rather than really strong in just one. That kind of specialization can be crippling if the person doesn't know how to use their strength effectively."

Chifuyu stared at Frank, baffled by how much thought the boy had clearly put into his statements. "And just how is it that you are this well versed in strategic thinking Mr. Martin?"

Frank smiled and rubbed his head with his hand. "I was a bit of an internet nerd back in my day. I spent a LOT of free time on military and science sites, learning just about everything I could about the world's most advanced tech and how it worked. The fact that I am now the owner of a machine that puts most of fiction's creations to shame is a crack dream come true."

Chifuyu appraised the boy with this new information. "As pleasing as this is for you don't forget that being a pilot is a very big responsibility. The IS is not just a piece of sporting equipment. It is the most advanced weapon system on the planet. You have no idea how much trust the Academy places on its students simply by allowing them to use the practice IS's on the practice fields. Treat your IS like a toy and I will have you out on the street in a heartbeat, got it?"

Frank nodded sincerely. No way was he going to pass up this opportunity just because he felt like messing around. "Sounds fair. How soon might Tabane make so progress on the changes?"

"It will take a few days to remove the ability cores and find adequate replacements for the extra slots. Those slots will have a lot of different options for you to choose from. Once Tabane finishes the removal I'll have her contact you so that you can customize the open slots to fit your flying style."

Frank grinned widely and said, "That's great." He threw a quick glance at his digital watch and saw that lunch was over. "Looks like that's everything we need to go over for now. Thanks for giving me this opportunity sis. I don't think I've ever gotten a better gift." He ran around the desk and gave the older woman a huge bear hug before flying out of the room faster than she could react.

Chifuyu watched her brother disappear from her sight, uncertain of how she should feel about him. This boy was constantly surprising her with new and unexpected quirks of his personality, knowledge, and thought process. Most unsettling for her though was his excessive need to be in physical contact with her. Ichika had loved his sister, of this Chifuyu had no doubt, but he never expressed his love as openly or often as Frank had in the last week and a half.

And that was another thing that concerned her. Why had Frank latched onto her so quickly? They barely knew each other and yet he trusted her almost as much as Ichika did. It was disconcerting. _What must his home life been like to throw himself at the mercy of a complete stranger with a smile on his face?_

Her concern easily overrode the annoyance she'd been holding against him for his –apparently false – immaturity in the class and wordplay pranks from earlier. As much as he might have deserved a little light retribution Chifuyu could not bring herself to enact it for herself. She then felt her eyes click as she realized that she didn't need to be the one to put him back into shape. That's what his classmates were for. A nasty grin appeared on her face as she turned to her computer and brought up the class lists. She had some work to do.

* * *

><p>Frank took off down the corridor at a mild sprint, not wanting to see if Chifuyu had finally snapped and tried to come after him. He didn't slow down until he was certain he wasn't being followed, which ended up taking him all the way to the 1st floor café shop. Fear is a strong motivator at times. Houki and Cecilia spotted him running in and quickly shuffled him into a back corner in an attempt to hide him from any pursuers. When they found out he wasn't being followed and had not in fact been in any trouble both girls demanded to know what the meeting was about.<p>

"You're getting your own IS!" Cecilia exclaimed happily. "That's fantastic! Training with you is going to be far easier now."

Frank nodded, encouraged by the blond girl's excitement. "Yeah, it is pretty cool huh?" He looked over at Houki and was surprised to see her looking somewhat glum. "Hey what's eating you? Rice ball not up to snuff today? I could share a few of my fries with you if you want."

Houki smiled weakly at him and said, "No Ichika its fine. I'm just not hungry right now."

Feeling somewhat off put by the girl's melancholy mood Frank decided to see what was wrong. "Come on Houki, you can tell me what's got you down. That's what friends are for right?"

The raven-haired girl looked up at him and saw genuine concern in his eyes, a look that she had seen far too many times on the old Ichika for comfort. It hurt her whenever she saw him upset, so she tried to brush it away.

"It's noth…"

But Ichika cut her off by saying, "Don't tell me it's nothing. If this wasn't important you wouldn't be sitting here contemplating your naval now would you? So come on, give up the goods. What's putting you so far down in the dumps?"

And that was when Houki realized the biggest difference between the Ichika she had know and the one she was friends with now. _He's grown up._

A quick glance at Cecilia showed that she was worried too, and Houki felt her heart lurch as she realized that these two actually cared about her and were worried about her feelings. No one had done that for her since… since she'd been forced to leave Ichika and the life she'd once had. It was a humbling, yet strangely comforting thought. She put on a smile, a real one this time, and said, "It's okay now Ichika. The feeling's gone."

Frank looked at her smile with confusion. "It is? You're sure about that?" Her nod just befuddled him even more. "But how? I didn't do anything yet."

Cecilia started laughing at that while Houki just smiled and said, "Sure you did Ichika. You're doing it right now."

"Doing what?" he demanded, making Cecilia laugh even harder.

Houki let Ichika's questions fade into the background as her thoughts began to wander more positively. _Who says I need a personal IS anyways? Tabane can wait._

The rest of the lunch passed swiftly as Frank tried to figure out what he's done while Cecilia worked to be as unhelpful as possible. He had narrowed it down to either a particular code phrase he'd accidently said or that Houki was secretly bipolar. Both girls had completely lost it when he'd voiced his theories so he just gave up.

As they left Frank made a great show of looking everywhere around them in search of someone. A little brown-haired, cat-toothed someone if Houki's guess was right. Thankfully the girl in question was on the other side of the hall taking with her friends, giving them – mostly Frank – a clean getaway.

They were all too excited about the IS practice to get much of anything done in the hour before the practice. Frank took to rapidly flipping through his manual and studying different piloting concepts at random. Despite his excitement he was actually rather nervous. The first time he'd piloted he had no idea what he was doing and got extremely lucky with a coincidental (supposedly) hand-to-hand match. If he'd been asked to use any sort of weapon or even to fly he would have been royally screwed. And he still had no idea how to do any of that. Asuka had said she was going to be training him, and that meant he would have to learn the basics fast!

Still, Frank didn't let his nervousness upset him. He vividly remembered what his time in the pilot's seat – armor? – was like and he was more than eager to pilot again.

After what seemed like an absolute age the time finally came for them to head out. Just as he was about to march out towards the fields though, Houki stopped him. "Where are you going Ichika?"

He turned to the girl and stared at her in confusion. "To the fields. You know, for the practice?"

Cecilia threw the same look right back at him. "We can't go out yet. We have to change into our flight suits."

"Our what?" Frank asked stupidly.

"Our flight suit," Houki said, exasperated. "Those things we wear so that we can pilot the IS's. You had to wear one during your training match remember?"

Frank's look shifted between the two of them as he tried to figure out the joke. "I didn't wear a flight suit. I was just in my regular clothes."

Frank observed that the two girls were actually mildly competent at mimicking a fish's face before either of them could respond. "Bu… But that's impossible," Cecilia stuttered. "There's no way you should have been able to move in an IS without the suit, much less participate in a match against an instructor."

"Why?" Frank asked. "It's just a uniform right? I did just fine in my regular clothes, though I'm pretty sure those pants are now permanently wrinkled."

Cecilia kept gaping at him while Houki tried to explain. "Ichika those suits aren't just for decoration. They're specially designed to aid pilots in connecting with their IS. The suits are made out of a cloth that has nanocircuitry weaved into it that so that the IS can connect to your nervous system and get the best response out of your body's movements. That's why the suits are skintight and why every first year is required to wear them for practice. More experienced pilots can go without the suit without any real drop in performance but it takes a lot of practice to get to that point."

Frank rubbed his chin as he mulled over Houki's statements. "So let me get this straight. I, a male pilot who had only just received his IS core not a few minutes earlier, managed to do something that is commonly considered impossible without noticing that there should be any issue in the first place. Am I right on that?"

Houki and Cecilia glanced at each other before nodding.

"Huh. Well that's neat," Frank stated succinctly.

"Neat!" Cecilia exclaimed. "How is you doing something beyond the ability of every first and second year student at Academy without you even realizing it merely 'neat'!"

Frank shrugged in response. "It's not like I broke any major laws of IS piloting. From what Houki said pilots can go without suits if they have to. Is it really so shocking that there is someone out there that doesn't actually need to the suits to start with?"

Houki's face grew tight as she said, "Ichika you don't understand. What you've done has no precedent. No pilot before you has ever tried to fly without a suit unless they've had a year of training at a minimum. You may not have done the impossible, but it's very close to it."

Frank wasn't sure how to react to this news so he fell back on his old standby. Ignore for now and come back to it later. "Well you guys know what this means right?"

The two girls shook their heads in reply.

"If I was able to fight effectively without the suit, just imagine how much ass I can kick with it on!" His friends rolled their eyes as Frank started doing a very hammy evil laugh.

Houki smacked him on the arm and started shoving him towards the boy's locker room when he didn't shut up after a full minute. "You can keep laughing once you get to the field and show us what your new IS can do. Now get moving! Your suit won't put itself on."

Rubbing his lightly bruised arm Frank obeyed and entered the locker room. To be honest he was a bit surprised that there was a boy's locker room at all since this school was built specifically with girls in mind. He resolved to ask Asuka or Chifuyu about it later. He got a bit lost trying to find his locker but it eventually revealed itself along the far wall near the showers. He could tell it was his from the fact that a uniform was laid out on the bench in front of it.

After checking to make sure no enterprising girl had snuck in to take a peek at him he changed out of his school uniform. Putting on the suit was an exercise in weirdness. The cloth felt extremely soft, unnaturally so, and slipping into it feel more like wrapping himself in a sheet than wearing a piece of clothing. The pants were long enough to reach his ankles and seemed to cling against him tenaciously. Thankfully for his sanity the crotch area of the pants was much looser than the rest of it, though it was still tight enough that he was hoping the IS armor would be able to cover it.

The shirt was very irritating. Fitting his head through the hole was frustrating to the extreme, even with its great flexibility. What really irked him though was the fact that the shirt actually stopped just past his chest, leaving his midriff completely exposed. _Excuse me, but I am not some pretty boy super model here! I would prefer to _not _be showing off my belly button, thank you very much._ He grumbled mightily to himself as he tried to pull the shirt down further in a vain attempt at hiding his bare skin. _Who the hell designed this? What guy in their right mind would…_ Then he realized with a start that a woman, not a man, probably designed his suit. That was when his embarrassment really kicked in.

_Oh that's just fantastic. Some lady decided to make me out to be just a piece of man meat for the girls to drool over. There will be words over this Chifuyu, mark me on this!_

Taking care not to obsess too much over the obvious red in his cheeks, whether from embarrassment or anger he could not tell, Frank observed himself in the mirror. It wasn't a bad look really, ignoring the rather obtrusive sex appeal that was deliberately designed into the suit. The cloth was dark blue in color, oddly matching up near perfectly with his own hair color, which seemed to become bluer each time he looked at it. Plain as it was there was a weird power that emanated from within, almost as if the suit was radiating energy just by existing.

Satisfied that he wouldn't look like a total fool in the getup he made his way out of the bathroom, catching a glimpse of a large group of girls already leaving for the field. Thankful that he wouldn't be spotted too early he discretely followed after them. He made sure to hang back far enough that he wouldn't be noticed but close enough to easily tell where they were going, which was no mean feat, even with his inherent stealth skills. Frank quickly caught a glimpse of Cecilia's flowing blond curls in the sea of browns, blacks and blues but did not try to call out to her for fear of alerting the mob.

The group plus Frank in the rear reached the practice fields a few minutes later and Frank finally had an opportunity to sneak up to his friends. He was sure several of his classmates saw him as he weaved through the mob but they were too busy staring at the three practice IS's sitting idle in front of them to care. Realizing that his friends hadn't recognized him popping up next to them he decided to have a little fun.

Since the two of them were standing right next to each other Frank tapped their shoulders and dipped back out of sight. The result was Houki and Cecilia looking at each and trying to figure out who had tapped who. They spent a moment or two arguing about it before Frank popped back in and announced, "Miss me ladies?"

The two girls immediately realized they'd been had and berated him loudly about it, drawing a rather uncomfortable number of stares from the other girls around him, who were only just now realizing that the fabled male pilot was standing amongst them. The fan girlish squeal that followed prompted Cecilia and Houki to drag Frank off to the side so that the mob wouldn't be able grab him.

Once the trio was relatively isolated from the now loudly whispering crowd Frank was able to get a good look at his friends, almost losing track of his heart beat as he did so.

He'd noticed that the girl's uniform bore a striking resemblance to a one-piece swimsuit that was just as skintight as Houki had explained, leaving very little to the imagination as far as body shape went. The suit ended just south of the, ahem, rear end, leaving the girls' legs clear and free. On most the girls it was a nice enough look and would have been enough to draw Frank's eyes in other circumstances. Seeing it on Houki and Cecilia was a different story entirely.

Both girls were much more mature than their classmates, and not just in personality. For the life of him Frank could not recall where he'd ever seen breasts as large as Houki's on any girl that wasn't already a full adult, and even then she had most of them beat by a fair bit. He found himself cursing the school's uniform for hiding such magnificent breasts from him before and added this injustice to the ever expanding list of complaints he wanted to bring to Chifuyu before long.

Cecilia was no slouch in the boobs department either, hers being large enough to draw plenty of envy and so perfectly shaped that Frank wondered if they'd been sculpted by an artist. Her best feature though simply had to be that wonderful, heart shaped pillow of an ass. Frank swore that he could probably bounce a quarter about a meter straight up off that lovely round flesh.

The fact that he was staring very openly at his two friends' bodies was not unnoticed by the two, though their reactions were very different. Cecilia flushed very brightly when she realized and turned away, a slight smile lighting up her face despite the embarrassment. Houki, on the other hand, was very vocally upset and was winding up a punch when Frank regained himself and swiftly started apologizing.

"Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to stare. I just…" He paused as he dodged a strong left hook before continuing, "didn't realize how beautifully you both were. It kinda caught me off guard."

Cecilia flushed even stronger than before while Houki halted in her assault on him. "Yeah, well…" the raven hair girl started angrily. "Just… just don't do it again." Unless Frank was very much mistaken he could just see the edges of a smirk forming on Houki's face, which eased the worry that he'd accidentally upset her with his attention.

He was saved from a very awkward conversation by a voice calling out from the front of the crowd. "Alright girls front and center! Chop chop!" A great scrabbling started up as everyone tired to arrange themselves in front of the three practice IS's. As his view cleared up Frank could see three people staring out on the students. Asuka stood at the head, her glare roving up and down the line as the students kept trying to organize themselves. To her right was Chifuyu, who was carrying a small briefcase that Frank suspected was important. On the left was what Frank assumed was another teacher, though it was hard to believe she was given her extremely youthful looks.

He subconsciously twitched a bit as he tried very hard not to stare at the woman's chest, which for the record had even Houki and Chifuyu beat by a mile. Instead he focused on her hair, though that hardly improved his mood as he tried to figure out how she had such natural looking green hair. He had read up that Technicolor hair had become somewhat common just a few years after he'd left, mostly through the use of limited genetic engineering and semi-permanent dyes. The fact that he'd missed this golden opportunity by sheer bad luck was grating on him something terrible. _It would probably be more trouble than it's worth to convince Chifuyu to let me change my hair to platinum white or electric blue. Maybe that could be my reward if I somehow manage to win that bet._

He let his thoughts pause at that as everyone finally got to their positions. Asuka eyed them all carefully, searching for anybody who was out of place. Thankfully no one was and the red-haired (is that natural or artificial?) woman started talking. "Looks like we're all set then. Okay girls, and Ichika, welcome to your first day of practical training. Today we're going to get you all familiarized with the practice IS's you will be using for the next three years. Since there are thirty six of you you're going to be split into three groups that will all share their IS. Each group will be headed by a national representative who will help lead your lessons with their personal IS's. With that in mind the group leaders are as follows."

Asuka walked down the line until she pointed to Frank's right and said, "Cecilia Alcott will lead group one." She then went down a list of names that covered everyone in the first group. They all assembled in front of one of the IS's where Cecilia started drilling everyone on their names and generally just asserting herself as the boss.

Asuka then moved over to the left and pointed at someone Frank couldn't see. "Lingyin Huang will lead group two."

"I prefer to go by Rin ma'am."

Frank froze for a moment as his brain tried to comprehend what he'd heard, then promptly started to shake in fear as he dared to look to his left. His worries were confirmed as he spotted the familiar brown ponytails that he was sure would soon haunt his nightmares. The girl trotted over to one of the IS's, the rest of her group in tow. Frank tried his best to ignore his growing concern but failed when Rin happened to look in his direction and give him a sickeningly sweet smile. He couldn't be sure, but looking back on that moment he could swear that he'd felt some of the later years of his life shred themselves to pieces under that look.

Finally Asuka started moving towards the last of the team leaders. "Ichika Orimura will head the final team."

Frank gaped at her in surprise. "But… but I hardly know anything about piloting an IS. There's no way I'm qualified to lead anyone. Not to mention I'm not a national rep."

Asuka just smirked at him and replied, "Representing half the world's population should probably count. Besides, what better way to learn the basics than to help teach them to others? Now shut up and get over there. Chifuyu has a special gift for you."

Frank groaned but obeyed, knowing better than to vocally complain. He made his way over to Chifuyu, feeling the weight of many stares trying to bear down on him. They didn't faze him though, mainly because he was way too excited now that he was finally going to get his own IS. As he approached the older woman opened up the briefcase and lifted out a large, metallic bracelet which Frank assumed held the IS. When he finished walking up to her Chifuyu held out the bracelet and said, "Here is your IS, Mr. Orimura. Handle it with care and treat it properly or else it will be revoked."

"Yes ma'am," Frank answered dutifully. He reached out and grabbed the bracelet then clamped it around his left wrist. He took a moment to admire the device, noting the it had next to no decoration and looked for all the world like a big silver ring. "So, uh, how do I activate it?" he asked hesitantly.

"Simple, you order it to form. Just call out the mech's name and say something along the lines of 'create' and the ring will do the rest. With time you should be able to summon it with thought alone, but that takes a lot of practice."

Frank nodded and was about to shout out his command when he had a thought. Somehow he'd been able to pilot his practice IS in the placement match without needing any assistance from a flight suit. Might he be able to bend the rules further and summon his IS silently? Newly determined to test out his theory he stepped away from Chifuyu and mentally shouted, _Byakushiki, appear!_

He waited a moment or two, during which nothing happened, before he realized that it hadn't worked. _Oh well, it was worth a shot._ Still, he was sure there was some merit to his theory so instead of shouting the command like Chifuyu had recommended he whispered it under his breath. "Byakushiki, appear."

This time he immediately got results as the bracelet on his wrist flashed brilliantly before the IS started to emerge. Frank felt himself be lifted off the ground by the suddenly-there legs and gasped as the sensations of the IS came flooding into him. In truth part of him had been suspicious of Houki's explanation about the flight suits, since the idea of a nanocircuitry weave for cloth was just a little bit far out in his opinion. But now he swiftly realized that the girl was telling the truth from the power of the connection he was receiving now.

Power; massive, electrifying, more power than he'd ever experienced flowed through him like a river. His connection to the machine was perfect and exact. The mech was no longer a separate entity. It was a part of him, as indistinguishable from his body as a hand or foot. Frank had often heard that being high was the best feeling in the world, but this experience blew that claim right out of the water. He had never felt better in his life, and he felt ready for anything.

Then the feeling began to subside as his body adjusted to its new shape. As the euphoria faded he looked down at his new mech and was surprised to see that it was mostly matte steel gray, unlike the bright white it had been under Chifuyu. It was also somewhat smaller than he remembered, but he figured that had to do with miniaturization or something similar. He heard a voice near him and saw that it was Chifuyu, a confused look etched on her face. "Are you okay Ichika?"

Frank smiled broadly and said, "Oh yeah, I'm okay. In fact, I feel bloody fantastic!" He punctuated his statement by leaping upward as high as he could, resulting in him soaring high above the heads of everyone on the field. As soon as he left the ground though he panicked and lost his balance, landing face first in the dirt. "Ow," he groaned as he picked himself up. "Now I'm just okay."

Chifuyu rolled her eyes and said, "Well since you are okay you can go over there and help your group." She pointed to the remaining group of twelve students standing at the last practice IS. He smiled when he saw that Houki was in his group. Hopefully she would be able to help him learn the basics and thereby teach it to the others.

More wary now since he'd felt the pain of his over exuberance he simply walked over to his new group, taking care to try and maintain the basic feel of regular walking. When he reached them he decided to test and see if the method for turning off the IS was what he suspected. "IS, deactivate," he whispered under his breath. The mech instantly disappeared in a brief flash of light and he dropped lightly to the ground.

Frank laughed proudly to himself and turned to the group of girls. He was bemused to see their faces as all of them were gaping at him, wide eyed. Houki was the fastest to recover, though her eyes narrowed at him and he suspected she'd figured out his game. Before he could introduce himself more properly he heard Chifuyu start speaking behind him.

"Alright students listen up. These are your two instructors. Miss Maya Yamada and Miss Asuka Belvara, some of the finest instructors we've ever had here at the Academy. They will teach you everything you need to know about piloting your IS over the next few years. You are to listen to everything they tell you without question, because they know best. Is that clear?" A chorus of 'Yes ma'am's were heard before the black-haired woman continued. "The instructors are here to help you, so be sure to respect them. Why should you respect them?" she asked with a smile. "Cecilia, Rin, front and center!"

The two other group leaders walked over and presented themselves, though Frank could see Lin throwing Cecilia a rather nasty glare.

Chifuyu gestured to Yamada and said, "Miss Yamada here was once in line to join the Japanese professional team but declined in favor of teaching here at the Academy. She is not to be underestimated. With that in mind." She looked back at the two girls in front of her and said, "You two will be fighting her."

Frank watched the two girls start to sputter and argue, though they appeared to be arguing about different things. Cecilia was saying that she didn't want to have Rin as her partner (which Frank heartily agreed with), while Rin was boasting about how she didn't need any help to take on the instructor (which Frank disagreed with, though it would be amusing to see her try). Both their arguments were shot down in an instant when Yamada, whom Frank had gathered to be extremely kind and polite most of the time, said, "Aw, what's wrong? Do I smell soiled baby diaper?"

Both girls glared at the teacher in silent fury, then activated their IS's in a flash before flying over to the practice field. Frank shook his head, knowing that this wouldn't end well for his friend. Houki stood next to him as they watched the instructor activate her own IS. "I give them a minute before they go down." Frank nodded grimly. He'd seen what Yamada was capable of on some of the IS battle recordings Chifuyu had shown him before school started. Skill was not something the woman lacked, and Frank suspected that the happy-go-lucky attitude was at least partially a front meant to confuse her opponents.

The battle soon began as both sides flew up into the air, Cecilia and Rin's personal IS's flying colorful and bright in contrast to Yamada's dull green and gray Standard Model. Houki's prediction turned out to be somewhat off. Their two peers barely lasted thirty seconds. It had happened so fast that Frank couldn't be sure exactly how Yamada had won, but the evidence was clear as Cecilia and Rin were sent barreling into the ground in a clump. Frank winced sympathetically as he saw the cloud of dust go up. He didn't remember that being much fun during his match with Asuka.

When Yamada landed there was a scattering of applause from some of the students, though most of them were trying not to shudder at the display of power. For his part Frank was glad that he hadn't been chosen. He just knew he'd get his but whopped in an actual fight. Thankfully it looked like his luck was going to hold and he could get a chance to practice normally. _Thank God for tha…_

"Ichika! Your turn!"

…

_Shit._

Frank obediently stepped forward, feeling Houki's concerned gaze behind him.

Chifuyu wore a proud smirk as she stated, "Since you've already had a battle with Asuka during your placement exam Ichika, you already have an idea of how skilled she is. Still, that was in a very limited situation. Now you will face her in an unlimited IS with no combat restrictions." The smirk grew. "Have fun."

Frank mockingly laughed before growling incoherently at her. He stalked over to where Asuka was waiting, not particularly eager to get into this fight. Still, he would do his best in spite of his certainty of failure. To do otherwise was pointless and would only waste everyone's time.

Frank activated his IS, saying the command out loud this time since he'd already proved he could do it quietly, and started to ready himself. He ran into a problem though when he realized his didn't know where his sword was. While he was busy searching for his sword he heard Cecilia call out, "Wait is he really fighting now? But he hasn't even…"

Asuka cut her off by saying, "You! Quiet!" She then turned to Frank and said, "Just summon the sword like you do with the IS Ichika.

He nodded and called out, "Summon plasma sword!" A pillar of light appeared in his right hand and a long silver-colored sword came out of it. There was a problem though. The sword was a solid mass, not a sheath with a blade of plasma coming out of it. "Hey," he shouted over at Chifuyu. "What gives? I thought this thing's sword was supposed to be plasma."

"You'll see soon enough Ichika. For now just focus on your fight with Asuka."

He growled again as he saw her smirk reappear with the statement. He had little choice though so he gripped the sword as best he could and prepared to lose. "Hey uh, could you go easy enough on me so that I can still stand when this is over? I have a meeting with the 1st year president to get to."

Asuka said nothing in reply, her smile unchanged from its malicious shape. The two pilots stared each other down, waiting for the first move to be played. Unfortunately for Frank, Asuka made that first move, leaping up into the air far above him. He waited for a moment for her to come back down but swiftly realized that she was flying out of his reach. "Oh god damnit."

Frank thought furiously as he tried to figure out how to reach her, namely by figuring out how to fly. _Well it's all been based on commands before now. Maybe I just need to think it._ With that he leaped as high as he could and mentally willed himself to not fall. And to his surprise it worked. It was like a switch had been flipped and gravity was now completely turned off for him. It was amazingly awesome as a feeling but he couldn't waste time reveling in it as he saw Asuka bearing down on him at high speed.

Frank barely held off a wave of panic as he envisioned himself sidestepping (floating?) away from the attack. The move worked, though only by a hair as he saw Asuka's wicked-looking red knife flash past his face. The red-haired woman didn't pause in her assault though, looping back around and swinging several more times. Frank's attempts to dodge only worked every so often, most of the blows either landing flush on or just barely bouncing off. He was getting the movement down in his head but it wasn't fast enough to help against his opponent. He'd lost almost 50% of his shield by the time he finally remembered that he had a weapon.

Frank swung his sword in desperation at his opponent and, to both of their surprise, actually connected. The blow knocked Asuka away, giving Frank some time to back off and figure out a course of action. Nothing came to mind though and Asuka was rapidly recovering, so he did the only thing he could think of. Rush her.

With a warrior's scream Frank flew at his opponent and brandished his sword as fast as he could. His attacks were able to keep the woman on the back-foot and prevent more attacks on himself, but most of the blows were blocked or deflected by her hand-held shield. Frank knew he wasn't going to get anywhere just battering her like this so he threw one last massive swing to unbalance Asuka then kicked off the woman's shield so that he could draw back.

From what he remembered of the Byakushiki's history in Chifuyu's hands it was extremely fast so he decided to put the pedal to the medal and fly as fast as he could. Asuka immediately gave chase but Frank was easily able to outpace her and now had some time to think.

Frank was well aware of the fact that he'd done balls all to harm Asuka so far and had lost more than half his health in return. That he was still up and flying was mostly due to sheer dumb luck and he knew it. Still, it might be possible for him to turn this thing around yet. Frank wracked his brain trying to come up with a plan when he remembered a piece of fiction he'd read back in his old life. On one side was a super strong and tough fighter who could outpace and outfight his opponent in close range. The other was a weaker overall fighter but was significantly faster and more agile. The speedster had won by flying literal circles around his opponent and smacking them every time he came around, rather than stand and fight. Sure he wasn't fast enough to fly around the Earth in a few seconds like Superman could, but neither was Asuka as insanely tough as Goku. It was worth a shot at least.

With his new plan at heart Frank started building up speed, trying to put enough distance between himself and Asuka to turn around and strike. It took some doing but with a few choice rolls he managed to flip past the woman and get in behind her, swinging his sword as hard as he could. The strike connected at her back, throwing the woman down towards the ground. Rather than press his apparent advantage Frank peeled off and flew around to the right, evading the counter attack Asuka had prepared had he followed her. The roundabout attack pattern he used had thrown the woman off and he got in another hefty swing, flinging the red-haired pilot skyward. Again Frank zoomed off on a tangent so that he could surprise his opponent, coming in from above. He prepared a massive two-hand bash, aiming to end the match in one last stroke.

He was denied though when Asuka pulled out a trump card. A huge fuck-off shotgun that was pointed right at his face. Frank barely heard the weapon's report before he felt himself get launched away, knocking his sword out of his hand. The blast from the gun had pretty much eliminated the rest of his shield, leaving a bare sliver behind. Frank could see the ground approaching rapidly but he couldn't get himself back in control.

Landing was just as painful as he had expected. A large dust cloud surrounded him, blocking off his view of the world above him. Frank groaned loudly, saying, "And yet again I end up in a crater. This better not be a running gag around here."

Just as he was about to try and pull himself out of the mech-shaped imprint he'd left in the ground he heard a female voice say, "Phase One calibrations complete. Executing Phase Shift."

_Wait what?_

Frank felt Byakushiki warp around him, blue holographic lines surrounding him as the mech began to change. The legs grew thicker and sharper, the keen angles giving a sense of speed and power that had previously been missing. The gauntlets on his arms became blockier and blue armored gloves appeared on his hands. His wings grew massively, reforming into dagger-like triangles larger than his whole body. What had once been plain steel gray was now a brilliant white sheen, highlighted all over by deep ocean blue.

If Frank had been shocked by the energy he'd felt from when he'd first activated the Byakushiki, this new form hit him like a meteor in its power. Before he had been able to level a building if he'd wanted. Now he felt like he could destroy an entire city with ease. It was intoxicating to the extreme, the sheer unbelievable strength he could feel.

The dust cloud had faded by this point, revealing his new form to the rest of the class, who were all stunned speechless. This included Chifuyu, though she was dignified enough to keep her mouth closed. Asuka meanwhile had settled to the ground in front of Frank, her smirk so strong that Frank began to get suspicious. "Hang on a moment. You planned this didn't you? You knew I was going to do this… evolution thing during our fight!"

The German woman simply nodded in response, her smile widening even further. "Yep. Me and Chifuyu figured that you'd be able to complete the shift a lot faster than most other people, but only I guessed that'd you'd be able to do it in a single fight." She then turned over to Chifuyu and shouted, "Guess who owes me a fancy dinner now Chifuyu?"

For her part the raven-haired woman ignored her subordinate, instead turning to the class and saying, "Alright everyone, fight's over. Get into your groups so that your team leaders can start basic training."

Frank glared at her for leaving without explaining anything, but was prevented from complaining when Asuka demanded their attention to start the lesson. It turned out to be rather underwhelming, as the team leaders were supposed to help the students in their group get adjusted to being in the IS and practice walking around in them. After the super tense, balls-to-the-wall fight he'd just been in Frank was feeling just a bit frustrated with doing something so limited but refused to let that feeling get in the way of helping his fellow students.

The lesson proceeded fairly smoothly as for the most part the students were capable enough to get the hang of walking swiftly enough. There was a bit of an embarrassing moment when the girl who went before Houki forgot to turn off the IS and he was forced to carry her up into the pilot's seat. Frank had ignored most of the annoying whispers from the girls but Houki didn't help at all when her face lit up like a stoplight as he'd picked her up. Aside from that everything was textbook to the extreme, which was both a comfort and a bore.

The quiet time had given him some time to think though, and he found himself wondering on the strange series of impossibilities he was beginning to gather up. Not only was he the first ever male pilot in the world but he also kept pushing far beyond was expected of a brand new pilot. Flying without his flight suit for his training match, tying favorably against an instructor with no prior training, and now this bizarre form shifting without knowing it even existed. If he didn't know better he would have sworn he was a Gary Stu. He consoled himself that if he was a Gary Stu he would have been able to get Rin to forgive him without any effort and beat Asuka with nary a sweat drop. Still, this phenomenon was worrying him and he resolved to get some answers from Chifuyu at the first opportunity.

The lesson ended not to long after as Asuka and Yamada took the practice IS's back to their garage and the class headed over to the dorms. Despite being suddenly feeling the weight of the day's exertions on his shoulders Frank made his way over to the main building for his meeting with the 1st year president, stifling a yawn on the way there. It was only midafternoon but Frank felt absolutely exhausted. He wrote it off as the extreme amount of focus and effort he'd put into his battle with Asuka and did a few mental exercises to wake himself up.

He arrived at the office and stood at the door for a moment; unsure of just what he'd be facing when he went in. Chifuyu had warned him that Tatenashi was… what exactly? He didn't remember, but she'd been concerned so he probably should be as well. _Oh well, no time like the present._ Gathering up his confidence he opened the door and walked in. When he did he happened to walk into what had to be one of the most awkward situations he'd ever whitnesed.

Sitting over by the large open windows on a lawn chair was an extraordinarily sexy blue haired girl who, by all appearances was tanning herself in her own office. That by itself was weird but worse was the fact that she had removed her top for an even tan, though thankfully she was face down so nothing was too exposed.

Had Frank walked into this meeting unwarned, he would have thought that he'd just had some extremely bad luck by walking in at the wrong moment. But he had been warned, and Frank instantly realized just what Chifuyu had meant about this girl. She was a tease.

Despite knowing just what Miss Tatenashi's game was Frank had to play along to not break the rules Chifuyu had set for him. He quickly covered his eyes and said an apology, trying his best not to flush at what he'd seen.

The 1st year class president looked up when he spoke, as if only just noticing that he was there. Frank heard the shuffling of clothes and dared to peak enough to see that she had slipped on a uniform over her otherwise uncovered body. "Well hello Mr. Orimura. It is nice to meet you at last. My name is Tatenashi Sarashiki, which you obviously know since you're here." She paused as she finally acknowledged the fact that he was still covering his face. "You can look now by the way."

Frank acquiesced and allowed his hand to fall, though it nearly came back up when he saw that the girl was right up next to him, practically leaning against him she was so close. "You wished to see me about something?" he said stiffly.

Her smile faltered a bit but rapidly filled back up as she skipped back to her desk, plopping down and leaning back much further than an office chair should. Frank tried not to notice the fact that her breasts had freely bounced a bit as she moved and concentrated on her eyes, which were an unnerving magenta shade. As he looked closer he noted that behind the wall of happiness that this girl openly exuded was a meticulous calculation that was not to be underestimated. Frank reminded himself that this girl was class president for a reason.

If Tatenashi noticed his questioning eyes she made no mention of it, instead launching straight into her proposal. "Well Ichika… I can call you Ichika right?" He nodded in the affirmative and she continued, "I called you here so that we can discuss your presence here at the Academy and the effect you will have on the female students."

Inwardly Frank groaned. _Not another bloody warning. I already heard this from Chifuyu plenty as it is. Plus, isn't it a bit hypocritical of her to talk about this after exposing herself like that to me on purpose!_ He sighed and said in a monotone, "Chifuyu and I have already discussed this at length and I have given my word that I shall not attempt to make any undue movements on any of the girls here at the Academy. I believe that should be sufficient in most cases."

Tatenashi's smile grew a bit frosty as she said, "Yes, I'm sure you did, but what about the girls themselves?"

Frank stilled for a moment, realizing just what she was implying. "Um, that is a different subject. One which I don't think we covered."

The girl's smile peaked again and she started enthusiastically saying, "Well then I have the perfect solution for you." She got up and started pacing back and forth in front of her desk. "The way I see it the girls will obsess over you almost no matter what you do. What matters is just how they decide to spend their obsession. So I figure, why not give them what they want?"

Frank quirked an eyebrow at her. "I don't follow."

"It's simple. Instead of hiding away from them and leaving yourself as this big question mark you should be open and be willing to interact with them. There is nothing a girl loves more than a guy with secrets. Don't keep any, and they won't be as interested."

"Okay, I guess I can see that. But how would I do that? I don't want to spend all my time showing myself of for everyone at school."

Tatenashi nodded then said, "Yes, but I have a simple and easy way for you to control how you reveal yourself. Make a fan club with you at the head!"

Frank just gazed at her for a few moments, unsure of whether or not she was being serious. "Really? That's your plan? Didn't I just say I didn't want to waste my time on this crap? Why on Earth would I want to expend that much effort on something I don't want to do?"

The class president shook her head and said, "No, no you don't understand. Just because you'd be the club head doesn't mean you have to do anything. I'll manage everything myself. All you have to do is show up every so often and talk for a while. It will be a piece of cake."

Frank saw the opportunity and despite himself couldn't not take it. "Anyone ever tell you that the cake is a lie?"

To his eminent surprise Tatenashi actually laughed loudly at that, giggling violently enough to make her lean against the desk. "I… I can't believe someone else knows that reference. How could you know about it?"

Frank managed to keep himself from freaking out, but only just barely. "Oh, I just, uh, heard it on the internet somewhere while I was preparing for school. I'm not exactly sure what it's actually about."

The girl stared at him suspiciously for a moment but Frank managed to keep a straight face and not give himself away. Then she absolutely floored him with her next statement. "Oh don't worry about it Frank, I already know."

The tile-covered floor of the office was remarkably clean, Frank noted. The janitors must be very thorough in their duties. Not a chip or speck of dust anywhere. His admiration of the anti-ceiling was interrupted by someone coughing above him, and he felt a twinge of annoyance at that.

Tatenashi helped him up, the look on her face the epitome of suppressed laugher, while Frank muttered several increasingly nasty obscenities under his breath. When he had brushed himself off, though there was little point due to the lack of dust on his best friend, the ground, he fixed Tatenashi with a nuclear glare. "Explain. Now!"

Miss Sarashiki drew back, her smile faltering a bit under his stare. "Well, uh, Chifuyu told me on the first day of classes. She said I was supposed to help you fit in and that nobody noticed anything unusual about you. This seemed like the best way to go about it."

Frank's glare subsided as he took a long and calming breath. He'd learned that breath control was closely tied to one's emotions in his marital arts training, and that slow, deliberate breathing was the best way to calm down from anger. He was still upset though. "So Chifuyu decided to tell someone my secret without telling me, huh? Oh we will have words my sister. Very sweet, strong words."

Tatenashi looked slightly unnerved by his seemingly tranquil tone but retained her smile anyway. "Well, uh, now that that is settled is there anything else you want to talk about?"

Frank thought for a moment. "So what exactly do I have to do for the club thing? Just show up for a bit and prattle about myself right?" Tatenashi smiled and nodded. "Is there anything else I might do in that regard?"

The girl appeared confused. "What do you mean?"

Frank gained a nasty smile. "You say it's your job to help keep my secret. Ever heard of the concept 'So overt it's covert'?"

Tatenashi's smile returned larger than ever. "Sounds like a plan."

* * *

><p>Making his way back to the dorms had been surprisingly easy since everyone was already inside their rooms. A quick knock on the door to his room and he was safe. As the door closed he let out a huge sigh of relief, plodding his way over to the bed tiredly.<p>

Houki watched her friend meander past her, curiosity on her face. "So where were you?" she asked as she closed the door solidly.

"Had a meeting with the 1st year president that ran a little long. We were talking about potential ways to reduce the girl's attention problem. We went pretty in depth about it."

Her gaze narrowed at that. "In depth huh?"

Frank waved her off, saying, "Don't you try and pull the jealous crap. I did not do anything untoward with her. Though that didn't stop her from trying," he mumbled at the end.

Houki's arms straightened in anger. "What was that?"

"Oh relax. She was just messing with me. I think. Anyway it's not a big deal. But I do think I should warn you. This weekend is going to be a little… weird."

Houki didn't have a chance to ask him what he meant as her roommate conked out before he'd even changed out of his uniform. She sighed and turned back to her own bed before murmuring, "Good night Ichika. Sleep well. You certainly earned it."

* * *

><p>The darkened room was again full as the meeting for the day began. The baritone voice began the meeting by asking, "What's this I hear about the male getting an IS just a few days after entering the Academy? I thought he wasn't scheduled to receive one until at least a month in."<p>

A new voice cut in, a male voice that spoke with an air of formality speaking of military service. "According to our source at the Academy Miss Tabane created the design on her own as a personal favor to her friend. We are unsure of just what the new design is capable of, but the data should be obtained soon."

"What about the rumors I've heard of him defeating an instructor in his first flight without wearing a flight suit?" the female voice asked. "That kind of capability has not been seen since the White Knight disappeared nearly a decade ago. We must know what this boy is capable of. Who knows how he could affect the Plan if left unchecked."

The baritone voice cut back in, saying, "He has no knowledge of our existence and as such is not a threat to our operation. Do not create threats where none exist," he said sternly. "Please inform our Academy operative that the boy is now a top priority and any information about him is to be delivered to us post haste," he said to the military voice. "Also inform her that she should be present for the next meeting. Just because she's not an active member of the council does not mean she can shirk he responsibilities to the plan."

A chorus of agreements went out and the meeting turned on to other matters.


	5. Chapter 5 Welcome to the Insanity

So... here I am. Hi guys. (Nervously glances around). I have a new chapter here after... how long has it been? 3 months? Wow. Huh. Didn't seem like that long. I... look I'm sorry. Like, really, _really _sorry. I did not intend for this long a break to exist between these chapters. Were it up to me it would have been out just 2 weeks after 4. The world isn't ideal sadly. These last few months have been computer **HELL **for me. How bad is it? For a time I was reduced to using my PS3 for internet access. That bad. As it is I still don't have my laptop back and am typing this on my dad's desktop. It has not been easy. But that's not the sole influencing issue here. I realized that having only one major project to work with is a bad idea for me. I'm not sure if its carried over for you guys but I am very spasmodic in my thinking. I am _constantly_ imagining scenario after scenario during my driving at Pizza Hut and when I'm not actively doing something. I realized that I need something else to do on top of this or else my muse will strangle me with my own ideas (not a pleasant experience let me assure you). Therefore I shall be starting a series of mini projects that are all connected together in one big world so that my mind has something to do with all the crap it constantly spouts. That and I had the most brilliant idea for a Harry Potter fic ever and I plan to run that down as soon as possible. As usual please review and criticize me at your leisure. (Starts to walk away) Oh that's right. (Runs back) I just remembered that I have never put up a disclaimer on this story, so here it is. Me no own. Me just monkey on typewriter. Please no take banana.

Chapter 5

Frank's sleep had been deeper than he had expected upon crashing into bed the previous night, deep enough that his internal alarm clock failed to wake him. Because of this he slept on for a good while until he felt someone shaking his shoulder. "Come on Ichika. It's time to wake up already."

Not being fully awake yet Frank responded in his usual weekend manner. "Mumber… 5 more minutes Mom. Mum mermumber."

Houki huffed in annoyance and said, "Don't make me kick your lazy but out of bed." When she got no response she sighed and pushed up her sleeves. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

The next (and first) thing he knew Frank was on the ground wrapped up in his blankets, completely baffled as to how he got there. "Argh! Whowhatwherewhenhow?" Frank swung his head back and forth, holding his pillow out in front of him as a shield. "W… what is person wake up me?"

Houki shook her head in annoyance and lightly knocked him over the head, saying, "You dope. We're supposed to be getting ready for class right now and you're still snoring away. Hurry up and get dressed so that we won't be late."

Frank stared at her stupidly for a moment before his brain finally switched on and he suddenly understood what she was talking about. He immediately flew into the bathroom and ran through an extremely fast shower. Barely four minutes later and he was rushing out of the dorm with Houki, his uniform slightly skewed and his hair an absolute mess. They ran all the way to their first Physical Education class of the semester, scarfing down some pastries they'd hurriedly grabbed from the kitchens on the way.

P.E. was located on the same floor as most of the classes but had a distinctly different feel, closely resembling an old Japanese dojo from the samurai era. There were some differences though, mostly the fact that the floor was made out of some kind of metal that was cleverly disguised as ordinary wood paneling. A bit concerned about the fact that the floor was made out of a hard substance Frank leaned down and rapped his knuckles against the ground. To his surprise he felt his fingers depress softly about an inch off the floor. Curious now Frank tried lifting his foot and putting it back down, which felt no different than it should normally. He then stomped harshly and was rewarded by the feeling of his shoe slowly compressing into something, as if it was a thick carpet absorbing the impact rather than sheer metal.

Frank was about to ask Houki how that was possible when the teacher strode into the room. Actually strode didn't accurately describe it. She _flowed_ into the room as if walking wasn't even necessary for her. Her face was smooth and clean, the few lines that were visible accenting her almost haunting beauty perfectly. Long curled platinum blonde hair fell over her shoulders as naturally as a waterfall. Piercing blue eyes stared the students of class 1-1 down, studious and analyzing in their view. "Welcome, students, to your first Physical Training class." Her voice was quiet and silky, yet it carried an intensity that made Frank straight up from his drooling. Thankfully no one noticed his impropriety, mostly because they were all caught in the same spell. Frank instinctively knew this was a woman that most men would throw themselves under the bus for, and that he had to be very careful to keep focused around her. He noticed with some amusement that Houki was very openly gazing at the woman with an open mouth, though it most likely jealousy from what Frank could tell. The rest of the class looked to be about two seconds from breaking into full out fangirl mode, though thankfully she started speaking again before that could happen. "My name is Elisabeth Gottfried and I shall be your trainer for the next year. In this class you will be taught several basic martial arts and weapon forms that will be important in your future as IS pilots. Today we will begin with practicing your flexibility and learning the basis of future forms." Elisabeth then went through a list of names, pairing everyone off and sending them to their various spots around the room. Frank noticed that his name had not been called and was about to ask about that when the woman turned to him and said, "Mr. Orimura and Miss Shinonono, I was informed by Chifuyu that you two are both well experienced in martial arts. Is that correct?"

Frank snuck a quick glance at Houki in questioning before nodding firmly at the woman.

"Very good. Miss Orimura stated that the both of you are at a higher level than anything you can learn in my class so she recommended that you both perform your own independent study for the duration of normal class hours. That said; it would be remiss of me to not assist you if you wish to improve your skills on your own. Should either of you wish to learn more about martial arts from me, please feel free to visit me after hours. Now if you excuse me I have a class to train." With that she gave them a small nod and walked back over to the rest of the class, waving her hips wonderfully as she walked, and began their lesson. Frank saw Cecilia track each movement of her hips and started laughing, mostly to cover the fact that he was mentally recording this moment for his own use later.

Houki shook her head at him and said, "You shouldn't laugh at her like that Ichika. It's not her fault after all." She glared at Miss Gottfried in annoyance at the woman's skilled sex appeal.

Frank felt a brief pang of guilt at the chastening and made a note to apologize to Cecilia later. "Yeah you're right. But hey, we can make it up to her by training her after hours so she'll be able to join us before too long. At the very least it will give her a goal to reach and that's always a good thing."

Houki was surprised at the suggestion but thought it was a good idea and said so. As she did she noted just how different it was for Ichika to realize that he had made a mistake and try to correct it, let alone with such a big offer of help. It was nice to see and it made her a bit reluctant to go through with what she had planned. Just a bit though. "All right Ichika come over here," she commanded as she dragged the boy over to one side of the room.

"Uh, what are we doing?" Frank asked while he tried to adjust his collar under the pull of Houki's firm grip.

Houki waited to answer until she plopped him down on one end of a sparing ring and moved to grab a pair of wooden swords off the wall. "I am going to be teaching you kendo, since you were somehow stupid enough to forget what you already knew. Here." She tossed one of the dull wooden blades at him. "Prepare yourself."

Frank looked down at the practice sword hesitantly, as if the thing was unhappy to be held by him. "Uh, shouldn't you show me some moves first? A technique? Stance? Something?"

Houki smirked at him and said, "I was always taught that experience is the best teacher. Now defend yourself!" With that she leaped at him, easily spanning the distance between them in an instant. Frank swiftly pulled up his blade to block, feeling the sharp smack of the two weapons jostling his arm. He was too slow to react to the next swing though and his ribs took a hard hit for his slow reaction. Still reeling from the blow Frank was caught completely off guard by the next two strikes and found himself face down on the cushioned floor. "Hello again friend," he mumbled to himself. "Care to explain how you are not breaking my face right now? Not that I'm complaining or anything."

"Are you okay down there, Ichika?" Houki asked amusedly.

"Oh yeah just fine," Frank snarked as he stood up. "Is the whole lesson just going to be me getting knocked on my ass? Because while I may be used to that from my martial arts training that doesn't mean I enjoyed it."

Houki smiled and readied her sword again. "Don't worry Ichika. It shouldn't take you long to get this. Getting covered in bruises is a great motivator."

About twelve seconds later Frank found himself reluctantly agreeing with her as he picked himself off the ground yet again. _This is going to be a long lesson._

(Page Break)

On the floor above the dojo Chifuyu was settling into her desk for another long day of administrating and paperwork. _Joy._ In truth Chifuyu didn't really mind her job at the Academy. It was simple and easy, if a bit mind-numbing, and the money she made was more than enough for her and her brother to live very comfortably for a long time, which was a massive improvement from their very difficult childhoods. Asuka often playfully jabbed at her that she had become boring in her old age, to which Chifuyu always retorted that stability was better than adventure for someone raising a child. Even if she did sometimes miss the excitement of being a pilot.

She sighed and turned to the stack of papers on her desk in an attempt to push away the annoying thoughts she always started her days off with. Duty called after all.

The raven-haired woman pulled the first item off the stack and studied it. The paper contained a list of requests from the various students in the first year, everything from room transfers and complaints about fellow students to things that made Chifuyu wonder at the sanity of the questioner. One girl had asked for permission to start a cosplaying club on campus while another requested a curling arena be built on one of the floors. These girls did realize that this was a school for learning to pilot IS's right? Sometimes it was hard to tell.

Chifuyu marked down the sensible ones for later consideration while crossing off everything that was too ridiculous to be taken seriously. Halfway through she saw a set of items requested by the class president Tatenashi that caught her attention. A long purple cloak, a pair of leather pants, black t-shirt, suspenders, and access to the theater room on Saturday afternoon. What the hell was she planning? Curiosity overrode her concern at the moment and she decided to grant the requests, if only to see what the eccentric girl could have come up with so early in the school year.

A few minutes later and she had finished with the whole list and moved on to the next item in the stack. A bit to her surprise the next sheet was a transfer request for a new student. Of course late students happened all the time, particularly with national representatives as the process of choosing the correct candidate could drag on for quite some time. It still wasn't common though, and receiving a request so quickly into the school year was rather unusual. She shrugged in indifference and started reading the information provided.

The first few paragraphs were filled with the usual dry prose that international documentation always required but Chifuyu had plenty of experience reading through the cracks and finding the real meaning. It was quickly apparent that this student was going to be the French representative for this year and that she was chosen in cooperation of the French government and their primary IS manufacturer, Dunois Industries. Well good, Chifuyu thought. France had been getting the short shrift recently after its refusal to join the larger European Union and subsequent isolation on the international scene. Getting a new student to the academy may help their standing enough to get their industry back on their feet. Dunois really deserved more credit than people gave them. After all, their Raffle design had set the standard for the 2nd Generation of IS's, and if anyone deserved a break it was them.

As she read on she started catching unusual bits of information that were confusing to say the least. Mentions of an unexpected child, forgotten mistresses, dead mothers. It was annoyingly vague and Chifuyu read further in a search for clarification. The answer she got nearly knocked her out of her seat.

The name of the new student was Charles Dunois, estranged son of the Dunois Industries CEO, and the second male in the world to be able to pilot an IS. She stared slack jawed at the page, disbelief raging in her mind. The odds of another male pilot appearing so soon after her own brother's revelation were so unlikely as to be impossible. And yet here he was, another male that served to fracture the rule that had run the world for the last decade. Chifuyu rushed through the rest of the document, trying to piece together any similarities between this new male and Frank.

As she went through the information though a different conclusion arose, one, which Chifuyu knew, would be complicated to deal with. Deciding to seek higher opinions she reached out to her desk phone and hit the speed dial. A few rings later and she was on the phone with her boss. "Mr. Chan? It's me, Chifuyu. Yes sir everything is fine but I have something that you need to see. Right now sir. Nothing dangerous but it is potentially very important. All right, I'm on my way now. Goodbye sir." She hung up and rushed out of the room, the transfer request cradled protectively under one arm.

(Page Break)

Hue Chan sat back in his nice office chair, trying to guess as to what had Chifuyu so hot and bothered this early in the school year. She had said it was nothing dangerous so odds were it was relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. Maybe it was an issue with her brother. Lord knew how much she obsessed over protecting the lad from anything that could harm him. It was an endearing trait, one that many on the Administrative Board pointed to as proof of Chifuyu's value as an educator. The fact that young Ichika was the first male IS pilot was a stroke of luck that was rarely seen in the world, especially considering Chifuyu's own decorated history as a pilot.

Mr. Chan was disturbed from his thoughts by a knocking coming from the door to his office. Surprised at how quickly Chifuyu had arrived he called out, "Come in." Sure enough his visitor was the dark-haired beauty that had called not moments ago. Hue hid a smile as he stared at younger woman, lamenting the extreme differences in age between them. _Were that I be a young man again. Sigh, if only._ "Hello Miss Orimura. May I inquire as to what it is that has you so concerned that you needed to see me immediately?"

Chifuyu walked up to the man's desk and placed the transfer papers in front of him. "Sir, it appears that the new French national representative is a male by the name of Charles Dunois. He is apparently the long lost son of the CEO who has come back into the light after the death of his mother a few months ago. He tested out on the IS at his own request and proved to be very competent. He will be arriving here at the Academy in a few hours, just in time for the homeroom class after lunch."

Mr. Chan was silent for some time as he read through the documents himself, his eyes narrowing repeatedly at the key points. When he finished he set aside the papers and kneaded his forehead with his fingers for a bit. "So this boy, who no one knew existed prior to a few months ago, is the son of the Dunois CEO and the second male IS driver in the world. This despite the fact that Mr. Dunois was happily married for many years before his wife sadly passed away last year and that the boy had gone through no training before trying out to be a pilot, which he apparently did on a whim if the information is correct. Oh and he has also just a had a full body physical not days before coming to the Academy so there will be no need to analyze him for ourselves."

Chifuyu nodded stiffly and responded, "That is correct sir."

Chan huffed to himself and said, "So she's a spy then?"

"It appears so sir."

The older man sighed and rubbed his face again. "So… what would you recommend in this case my dear?"

Chifuyu relaxed a bit now that her boss knew the situation in full. "Well we have several options available to us at this time, though only a few of them are really viable at this point. Given that we know the girl is a spy we could decide to reject her out of hand and send her back home, effectively calling France's bluff and forcing them to acknowledge the falsehood. Doing so would have a very bad effect on Dunois's remaining reputation and ruin what gains France has earned in the past few years, which benefits no one."

Mr. Chan nodded at this and said, "I agree. Whatever their politics concerning their own governance one cannot deny that France has some very skilled IS designers. Losing them would be a harsh blow to the industry."

Chifuyu nodded and continued. "The second option would be to accept her publicly but keep her relatively isolated and post a strong watch on her to prevent any data leaks to her home company. This would allow the French to have their public relations boon while keeping them from getting anything truly useful."

"I don't know," Hue said as he gazed up at the ceiling. "That sounds like a lot of work. Plus we don't know exactly what she is after, so what are we supposed to hide? And what if the media finds out we are excluding her? It would just make both sides look bad."

"Yes sir, that is a possibility. But that was not the option I would recommend."

His eyebrows lifted slightly at that. "Really? But what other options are there?"

"Two actually." She lifted a hand and waved it to her left. "On the one hand we could just flat out state to her that we know she is a spy and offer to give the data to her willingly."

Mr. Chan frowned. "You know we can't do that Chifuyu. The Alaska Treaty was very strict on just what information we are allowed to give out. If someone found out we just handed out the data we would face all sort of censures and complaints."

"Exactly sir. Which is why we don't do that." She took her other hand and waved it in the other direction. "The final option, and the one I recommend we take, is that we simply pretend to not know she is a spy. France gets its information and its pilot, and we get a strengthened French IS industry in the long term. The best gains for the minimum effort." She punctuated this by slamming one fist into the palm of her other hand.

Mr. Chan sat back in his chair, going over the possibilities in his mind. "That actually sounds like a good idea. Very well, lets go with that. I assume you have some plans in mind for her placement?"

A quick nod was the reply. "Yes sir. Since we are going along with the 'she's a guy' deception, it would be best to place her with my brother in the dorms. He might be a bit upset about having to switch roommates without us consulting him, but he'll go along if I tell him to."

Hue chuckled and asked, "Are you going to tell him the truth about his new roommate or leave it up to him to discover?"

Chifuyu's face gained a sudden smirk as she said in a patronizingly sweet tone, "But sir, telling him the truth would imply that I know about her secret, which of course I don't. If I did I would have to bring it to the attention of the proper officials wouldn't I?"

The older man laughed openly at the response, glad to see that Chifuyu still had her delightfully tricky sense of humor. "Oh I am sure he will be very happy to hear that whenever it is that the truth does come out. Very well, if that is all?" Chifuyu nodded in the affirmative. "Then you are dismissed. Please make whatever preparations are necessary to accommodate our new student. Oh and Chifuyu?" The raven-haired woman paused in her exiting from the room. "Have fun with it," Mr. Chan said with a smile.

Chifuyu smiled back and said, "I'll keep that in mind sir." And with that she left to get back to her own office. She had work to do.

(Page Break)

"Oomph." Frank growled to himself, annoyed at being knocked to the ground _again_ by Houki. The kendo training had gone much as he'd expected, with him being pwned repeatedly for over two hours. To be fair he had been slowly improving, the number of blows needed to take him down increasing to around six rather than the three or four at the start. Didn't change the fact that he had yet to even land a blow on Houki _once!_ Turns out that a history with martial arts does not make you good with weapons right off the bat.

"You feeling alright Ichika? Want to call it a day?" Houki asked as she offered him a hand for the umpteenth time that morning.

Frank grumbled a bit before taking the offered hand and standing up again. "Yeah that might be for the best. I'm pretty sure I've got bruises on my bruises here."

"Oh don't be such a baby," Houki said dismissively. She hung up their two battered swords on the wall then turned back to him. "I was going easy on you the whole time."

"Yeah, I know," Frank grouched. "Doesn't make getting my ass kicked any easier for me." His expression lightened a bit as he said, "Could be worse though. At least I'm improving right?"

Houki nodded proudly; glad to see that her training was having an effect. "You are definitely better than when you started. You're able to see what sort of attacks I'm about to use and are learning how to counter them. The instincts are there; we just have to build upon them." The two friends walked over to the other side of the room, where the rest of the class was finishing up. "Besides, you can pull the same sort of thing on Cecilia when we give her our own lessons."

Frank scoffed. "Yeah sure, like she'd let a boy handle her in a rough manner. How about I teach the forms and you do the sparring," he said pointedly.

Houki shrugged in response. "Fine. More fun for me then."

At that point the teacher called a halt to the lesson, prompting many of the girls to fall to the false mat in exhaustion. It was pretty clear to Frank that the vast majority of them did not exercise anywhere near as much as they should. It was difficult to be too hard on them though. Even the well-trained Cecilia was gasping slightly. After being dismissed by the teacher, who had politely applauded their apparent skills with a blade, they grabbed their friend and headed to the locker rooms for a shower.

Once they all cleaned themselves up – which took far longer for the two girls than for Frank – they all headed off to a strongly needed lunch. Frank was busy laying down some plans for using the training room after school to help Cecilia catch up with himself and Houki when he saw a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. Thoroughly distracted by the moving object he failed to notice the warning cries coming from in front of him until it was too late. By the time he turned to see what the commotion was all he could focus on was a brilliantly green ball flying straight towards his face. "Oh sh-"

The ball smacked his head so hard that it, in conjunction with his forward momentum, sent him flipping backwards headfirst into the ground. "Ow. Not that I don't love our little heart-to-hearts Floor, but could you ask Fate to stop forcing us together? It's not good for our relationship." Before Frank could get an answer from his repeated acquaintance he was firmly hauled to his feet by his two friends. "Okay," Frank said unsteadily, "Who, what, and why?"

A black haired girl raced up to him, rapidly spouting out apology after apology, saying that she and her friends had been playing a game while waiting for a class and that the ball had gone out of control on accident. She seemed very sincerely sorry for what had occurred so Frank chose not to hold it against her. The trio continued on to the lunchroom after assuring the group of girls that he was fine. Frank was ready to completely forget the incident when he caught sight of something that called the whole thing into question. Hiding amongst the group of girls was a familiar pair of brown ponytails and a face with a Cheshire grin staring back at him. He narrowed his eyes at her, recognizing the game that had gone on. _Well played my dear. But it will take far more than that to break me._

Frank had already decided to remain on the defensive in this war, knowing that aggressive actions on his part would only push the girl to greater extremes. Rin clearly still thought that he was lying about his amnesia and was trying to force him to give up the truth. The fact that he actually was lying about his amnesia made it just a little bit difficult for Frank to fault her for trying these tactics. Her logic may be flawed on just why he was lying to her, but it made sense to her and it would be nigh impossible to convince her otherwise. So he would just have to grin and bear it until the girl got bored and tried talking to him instead.

Frank had suffered through one of these prank wars in his previous life and knew how to survive the attacks without freaking out. To this day he still didn't know what had upset his opponent in the first place. Seriously, what had he ever done to Vanessa?

Whatever the case he did not tell Houki or Cecilia the true nature of the 'accident', preferring to focus on getting some much needed food down his gullet.

(Page Break)

"So Houki," Frank said after swallowing a large bite of his pizza, "what was the deal with the bouncy floor in the training room? Is it like a air hockey table or something?"

Houki carefully replaced her piece of sushi as she prepared her explanation. "It's actually a very miniaturized version of the electro-magnetic fields our IS's use. The floor acts as the projector and it compresses the air when it senses a body moving at a certain speed. Stepping and running around is mostly ignored but anything larger or faster than that would land as if it were hitting a pillow. Sadly the system isn't very common as it is really expensive and takes a lot of power. The Academy is special like that. We get to test all sorts of technology that come from the IS before they go out to the public."

"Really? That's pretty cool." Frank returned to what remained of his lunch, ripping the remaining piece of Italian pie apart viciously.

Cecilia eyed his zealousness with a bit of shock and annoyance, taking great care with her knife and fork. "How do you know so much about this stuff Houki?" she asked curiously.

The black-haired girl sighed and leaned back in her seat, wrapping her arms around herself. "Because its all I was allowed to do for a long time."

Frank paused in his barbarian feast to look at his friend with concern. "What do you mean?"

Houki sighed again before looking out the window, as if replaying her life on the transparent screens. "Being locked away in a lab 24/7 doesn't give a person much to do other than participate in the experiments of the scientists around you. When I told Professor Maxwell that I was with him when he learned most of what he knows about how IS's work, I wasn't kidding. It was just about the only thing I could do besides train with my sword or laze around on the Internet. I was there for just about every major development and innovation that Tabane ever came up with, and I had to sit there and listen to the scientists explain everything to each other. Over and over and over."

"So you couldn't leave at all?" Frank asked. "Why? Was the threat to your life really that serious?"

Houki pulled her arms tighter. "Yes, it was. The one time I was able to leave for a birthday event a bunch of mercenaries tried to kidnap me halfway through. It was only because of my sister's bodyguards that I wasn't captured. After that I wasn't allowed to even step outside of the lab for anything, plus the security was tightened so much that Uncle Max wasn't allowed in for at least a month while they investigated everyone who knew where I was going. The worst part was that nobody bothered to ask me how I felt about being nearly kidnaped. They only cared about keeping me secure so that no one could use me as leverage against my sister."

Frank felt a pang of sadness at the story. "How did you feel about it?"

Houki stared at him for a moment, searching his eyes for the sincerity she had not seen in so long. "It… it hurt. It hurt because it meant I was nothing more than an object to those people. Just a target to grab for their own purposes, not a person with feelings and dreams of their own. I… I wanted to do something for myself, to prove that I could defend myself from threats. That I wasn't as helpless as they thought I was." She looked up at Ichika, seeing the pain he was feeling and on her behalf. "Most of all though, I wanted someone to care about me. Not about the younger sister of the inventor of the IS. Just me."

Frank gazed at her, having no idea what to say. Thankfully his heart knew where to go. "We care."

That simple statement lead to several moments of silence from everyone at the table. Houki was completely still, looking at Frank as if she had never seen him before.

Cecilia, who had been utterly shocked at the direction the conversation had turned to, decided to throw in her own two cents. "Houki, I know we haven't known each other for very long, but I just want you to know that I care too. I didn't exactly have all that many friends of my own back home either, and most of them are angry with me for being an IS pilot while they can't ever do the same. If you ever need something from me, don't hesitate to ask."

The raven-haired girl looked at the blonde with something akin to awe, unable to believe that these two people were so willing to care about her after so little time. It was more than she had ever expected.

She turned to Ichika, a desperate need for confirmation in her eyes. Frank simple gave her a nod, saying more with that one gesture than he had in the whole conversation.

The three friends huddled together in their booth, letting the quiet closeness speak for them. After a few minutes Frank spoke up, saying, "Hey Houki, I have a question."

"What is it?"

A devilish smirk appeared on his face as he asked, "Are you ticklish?"

The girl did not have a chance to react before she suddenly found herself giggling madly under an unexpected assault from her left. Not having been tickled since she was a small child she was completely unprepared for the assault. "I... Ichika, sto… stop it!"

"Never!" cried playfully. He knew that this was probably overstepping the bounds a bit with this little prank but he felt that it was necessary at the moment. Anything to get rid of this terrible negativity they were all feeling.

Cecilia was laughing along with the pair of them, not joining Ichika's attack but not doing anything to stop it. A lady should never get involved in this sort of thing after all.

Eventually Houki managed to get free from Frank's grasp and then spent the next few minutes threatening to throw him off the school roof. Frank was initially going to laugh off the threat when the girl mentioned that a pilot's IS core could project a weaker version of their mech's shields when necessary. Suddenly the joke was a lot less funny, if the glint in Houki's eyes was any indication. Thankfully lunch was just about done and it was time for the next homeroom class.

"I wonder what we are learning about today," Cecilia said as the exited the lunchroom.

Frank took a moment to answer, busy as he was searching for what was quickly becoming his high school sitcom nemesis. "Probably nothing too interesting. Nothing interesting ever happens in the first week of school."

(Page Break)

Frank was leaning back in his desk with his eyes closed when Asuka first entered the classroom. He was still a bit tired from the day before and the long exercise from the morning had not helped. His light napping was unnoticed by the teacher, though she would probably have acted little differently if that had been the case.

"Listen up kiddies!" (Frank fell out of his chair from the jolt), "We've got a new student joining us today. Be sure to kind to him."

A hush fell over the classroom at her words, though Frank didn't noticed due to his latest conversation with the floor. By the time he'd said his goodbyes and was reseated he found himself facing a blonde haired boy standing nervously in front of the class. His effeminate features and enchanting purple eyes brought only one thought to Frank's head. Bishonen. _This poor guy is going to get torn apart._

"Hello everyone," the boy said with a light French accent. "My name is Charles Dunois. Pleased to meet all of you." He gave a hesitant smile and the resulting moans of excitement drove Frank nearly around the bend. _Don't these girls have any sense of decency?_

Asuka shut everyone up with a glare and motioned for Charles to sit down. As he did Frank noticed that everyone was watching him openly, some of whom Frank would have sworn would have hearts in their eyes if this was an anime. To his surprise even Cecilia was making goo-goo eyes at him, though a swift elbow from him brought an end to that. Once Charles was seated near the back, his face slightly red from all of the attention, Asuka began the lesson.

After the world's governments found out about the IS from various news sources they all started scrambling to find out who or what had created such an amazing technology. The search didn't take very long as Tabane was swiftly discovered on various Japanese internet forums bragging about how she had saved Japan and that everyone should now worship her as their protector/god. No one ever said the girl was subtle.

There was a problem though. Even though the world's governments, held under the jurisdiction of the UN, had Tabane under their control, (control being a very loose term when applied to a 14 year old super genius hacker-scientist), they had no way to obtain their own IS's. At least not immediately.

The problem was that the power sources for the mechs were extremely rare. Rare as in 'there exist on planet Earth only as many as Tabane has made, which is two'. One for herself and another for prototype testing. In other words, the White Knight.

Thankfully the situation needn't stay that way. Tabane was more than willing to produce more IS cores, (what scientist doesn't enjoy her work being appreciated after all?), under one condition. No country could ever use an IS in warfare against another IS user.

Many of the partner nations in the coalition had complained very loudly about the condition. How could they guarantee their safety against another IS user if they weren't allowed to combat them on equal terms? Tabane had a very simple answer.

While designing the IS cores Tabane had deliberately added in a fail safe in case one of her creations was ever miss-used. The young genius had given herself the ability, through her own IS core, to remotely shut-down any IS core she had ever produced without the need of any external interface. If someone tried to eliminate her in order to avoid this measure, then a dead man's switch, (dead woman's code Tabane called it) would activate which would shut down ALL IS cores she had ever produced. When some had objected to placing control over what was potentially the world's most powerful weapon system in the hands of one teenage girl she had pointed out quite reasonably, "It's my way or the highway. Take it or leave it."

Obviously enough they took it, and thus the Alaska Treaty, (named after the location of the meeting somewhere in the frozen tundra), was enacted.

Tabane began rapid production of the IS cores in her brand-new, super secret lab that no one, (meaning everyone), knew about.

Frank noticed that some of the students glanced hopefully at Houki, wondering if she would drop any hints as to her sister's location. Houki's only response was to glare silently around the room, daring anyone to ask her. No one was foolish enough to take the bait and the class continued.

An issue soon arose that nobody had initially expected. As it turned out the IS cores did not come with mech designs pre-installed. Each core had to be given a blueprint of its mech before it could create it through its bullshit scientific magic, (words of the science community). The problem? Tabane was so busy producing cores that she had no time to design the mechs herself. When they immediately asked her anyway she grumbled at them and said, "Take the White Knight blueprint and you can build it yourself, you ninnies. You can't expect me to do everything for you guys. I'm only 14 after all."

The coalition took her advice and started bringing in engineers and designers from everywhere they could. As it turned out the aircraft industry had the most in common with IS design, allowing companies like Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Dassault, Sukoi, and others to grow massively in value.

Even with their experience though, it wasn't easy. The White Knight design was almost impossibly advanced, containing metallic alloys no one had known existed, using a flight system with outrageous power requirements with nary a hitch, and managing to miniaturize plasma production into a sword about half a foot wide.

Tabane was immediately bombarded with questions about the design. The answer was extremely surprising to everyone. "I didn't design the White Knight as a prototype or anything. I just drew it when I was bored." Tabane explained that she had been sitting in class one day when she decided to make up her own Gundam mech. She deliberately overdid the design with ridiculous stats and abilities, (what fun is making your own character if they're not massively overpowered?), and on a whim implanted it into her new IS core as a joke. To her extreme surprise the core actually produced the thing out of thin air exactly to her specifications, something Tabane had not expected. She had only just gotten a test pilot for the thing all set up when the nuclear missile was launched and her just-for-fun Gundam design ended up saving Japan.

Many of he scientists who heard the story began to flip their shit, (again, the scientist's words. They are a foul-mouthed lot aren't they?), proclaiming to high heaven how impossible it was that a simple concept drawing could be produced out of nothing with no human direction. Tabane had just shrugged and responded with, "Mysteries of life I guess."

After managing to restrain their scientific brethren from assaulting the girl the engineers got to work trying to replicate the success of the White Knight. Being pragmatic men of a real-life industry rather than an over-imaginative teen girl, the designers worked toward much more limited goals meant to provide excellent test-beds for future designs. Once the blueprints were completed test pilots were recruited and prototype flights planned. Then came the real problem.

Before the prototype mechs could be built the IS cores had to bond to a human driver, locking them to that pilot permanently. But when the coalition attempted to bond IS cores to male pilots, nothing happened. No matter how many pilots they tried, not a single male could get the cores to accept them. By contrast, most of the notably fewer female pilots were able to bond with their cores with no issues. When the problem was brought up with Tabane her reaction was not very helpful. "They only bond to women? Huh, I didn't know that."

After quelling a small riot amongst the scientists, most of whom were beginning to twitch when anyone so much as mentioned an IS, an effort was made to determine the problem. Absolutely no progress was made by anyone, including Tabane. It was as if the cores had just arbitrarily decided to work only with females, and nothing anyone could do would convince them otherwise. Frustration, anger, and much swearing ensued.

Finally though the coalition acknowledged the reality it was presented with and publicly announced the unusual requirements of the IS and the Alaska Treaty to the world at large. Public reaction was mostly shock and confusion, though the international science community publicly shat itself when the full details of IS capabilities were released. The next year saw the slow but steady rise of Infinite Stratos to the center of public awareness and its near worship by both scientists and the arms industry. Then the Second Korean War happened and the mythology changed.

Frank was so engrossed in the lecture that when the bell for class rang he nearly fell out of his seat in surprise. By the time he regained himself most of the class had emptied out into the hallway saved for his friends and Charles. The French boy was hesitantly making his way to the door but Frank politely blocked him and held out his hand. "Hi there. Name's Ichika. I'm the other male IS pilot."

The boy gazed at him in surprise for a moment before taking his hand and shaking it once. "Pleased to meet you Ichika. I'm Charles." His smile was small and clearly unconfident and yet Frank felt a strange flutter in his stomach when he saw it.

Frank did his best to ignore the feeling by introducing his two friends. "This is my old friend Houki, Tabane's sister," he said while sweeping a hand to the raven-haired girl, who gave Charles a pleasant smile, "and this is Cecilia, the British national representative." He glanced to his right as he spoke and noticed that Cecilia was staring at the boy with a very suggestive smile on her face, which irritated Frank something fierce. With a little more force than was probably necessary he elbowed Cecilia in the side.

The girl actually huffed from the air being pushed out of her lungs but refrained from striking back at Frank and said, "It's nice to meet a fellow representative. Perhaps after classes are over we could meet up in the lounge. How does that sound?" When Frank moved to interrupt he felt a hand on his arm and looked to its owner. Houki was giving him a look, letting him know without words that he should let it go. He grunted and turned back to Charles, whose smile had grown just a bit more genuine. The feeling in his chest returned and he moved to scrunch it. He needed to focus right now. "Yeah well that's later. Right now we have to find a way to survive that horde of girls hanging around outside."

Houki chuckled and asked, "What horde of…" Her words fell away as she turned to the door and saw the hallway-side windows filled with faces. She stumbled back into Ichika, who just sighed in annoyance. "W… when did they get here?"

"About five minutes ago," Frank responded, deadpan. "They can't hear us through the glass right?"

"I don't think so," Cecilia answered.

Frank squared his shoulders and said, "Alright then. Charles, follow my lead and we should get through this just fine."

The blonde boy looked at him curiously. "What do you mean Ichika?"

Frank kept his face unconcerned so as to not alert the girls in the hall to his plan. "I could handle the girls' attention by myself no problem, but with two of us guys here now they're going to be insatiable. They smell the hormones in the water and are out for blood. Figuratively speaking of course. Hopefully."

Charles' face adopted a look of mild panic as he realized what Ichika was saying. "But I just got here. They cannot possibly be attracted to me already."

Frank let out another sigh. "Yeah, if only. Listen we're only going to have a few seconds after we leave the class in which to act. Listen to what I tell you and we should be okay."

The boy looked up at him for a moment more before nodding and saying, "Alright Ichika. If you think its best."

Frank smiled. "Hey no need to be so grim about it. I pretty sure most boys would be stumbling over themselves to in in our position right now. Being the only guys in an all girl school isn't all bad."

Houki and Cecilia both scoffed at that. "Sure you say that now," Houki said, "but every time we're at lunch with him he just complains about the attention endlessly. If you listened to him then it would sound like hell." Cecilia laughed in agreement.

"Ha ha. Laugh it up. Now come on you two." Frank made his way to the door, readying himself for the trial ahead. "Time to run the gauntlet.

(Page Break)

"So let me get this straight," Maxwell said. "We know that the French boy is actually a girl, but we're pretending not to know to aid the French IS industry, who are suffering because of France's overly-nationalist policies. Do I have that right?"

Chifuyu sighed quietly as he spoke. This meeting here in the 1st year teacher's lounge had been very much impromptu, and none of the teachers had been prepared for the announcement she had given. The reactions had been much as she expected though. Yamada had been cheerfully surprised while money actually exchanged hands between Asuka and Elisabeth, oddly enough in Eliasbeth's favor. Those two didn't interact much aside from competitions in the physical arena, but they often made bets about any unusual happenings around the campus. And Maxwell, of course, reacted in his usual manner. Unbridled, over-the-top freak-outs, which she happened to know he played up on purpose. She finally returned her attention to him once he finished summarizing the situation and responded, "Yes. That is correct."

Maxwell moaned loudly and smacked his head on the table, proclaiming through the solid wood, "I hate politics."

Asuka laughed at him and said, "Well tough shit Jose. We're not just any school here. We're the International IS Sports Academy. Politics is the entire reason this place exists."

"Indeed," Elisabeth agreed. "Were this a regular school do you honestly think they would have hired you as a teacher?"

Maxwell glared at the two women in annoyance at the dig. "Oh ha ha, girls. Very funny. I'll have you know that I was actually planning on getting a teacher's degree after finishing my engineering courses, thank you very much. Knowing a subject is all fine and dandy but only the real masters of the art can teach it. A student is only as god as their teachers after all."

"I think you're a great teacher Jose," Yamada said with her traditional bubbly smile.

"Why thank you Yamada." Maxwell turned to the others with a smug grin. "Good to see someone can see a quality educator if they bother to look."

Elisabeth rolled her eyes while Asuka asked, "When was the last time you had your eyes checked Maya?"

"Oi!"

Chifuyu grinned slightly as she watched the others argue. Though she was technically their boss all of the others treated her as an equal rather than as a feared superior. She rarely said this out loud but she always enjoyed these teacher's meetings and the way they devolved into these playful arguments. It made for a nice feeling of normalcy in the madness surrounding the Academy. Chifuyu often used the ideas of her subordinates to aid her in her own work of keeping the Academy running. Jose in particular made for a nice sounding board for solutions to problems. His off-kilter sense of humor yet oddly grounded style of thinking had solved many an issue in the past few years.

Now that she thought about it he was actually very similar to Frank in some ways. Perhaps she could use Maxwell to get a better perspective of Frank's thinking sometime in the future.

"Oh don't you try to pull the 'I'm a better driver' card," Jose said heatedly. "That is not even halfway true. You may be able to pilot an IS with the best of them, but I bet I could drive circles around you in any car."

"Oh really," Asuka shot back with a sneer. "I think I'll take you up on that. The usual terms?"

Jose smiled evilly. "Sounds good to me. Mind being the judge Elsa?"

The blonde haired woman sighed in annoyance and said, "How many times have I told you not to call me by that name? I am not like that woman beyond superficial looks, and no matter how much I respect her I am not exactly like her."

"But its so much easier to say than Elisabeth," Jose whined. Her annoyed glare caused him to flinch and say, "Jeez did the temperature just drop or something?" The glare deepened. "Alright fine. I'm sorry Miss Gottfried for once again pointing out the uncanny resemblance you happen to have to one of my favorite animated characters of all time."

The blonde sighed again and said despondedly, "That's the best I'm going to get out of you isn't it?" At his nod she shook her head and said, "Very well I'll be your judge again. You'll owe me another dinner though."

"Just add it to the loser's tab. Or you can just put it on Asuka's to save time."

The red head snarled at that. "Oh you are so going down."

Yamada looked back and forth between the two warring adults and bemoaned, "Why are you all always fighting? Why can't we just all be friends?"

Chifuyu decided to renter the conversation at this point, saying, "If you are done arguing children, perhaps we can move on?" The others all fell silent, Elisabeth sporting an amused smile as the two arguers threw the occasional glare at each other. "Good. So we are all clear on the subject of Charles, right?"

"Just one more question," Jose said. "Should we act like we're pretending to not know she's a girl or like we don't know at all and are totally ignorant?"

Chifuyu raised an eyebrow at him. "And what exactly is the difference between the two?"

"Well in the first case we would be actively pretending she's a boy in front of everyone else while also dropping the occasional hint that we do know the truth. In the other we act completely oblivious and show no hint that we know her secret. Which is better in this case?"

The administrator thought for a moment then answered, "The latter. We can't let the French know that we suspect them at all or else they'll start wondering what we're up to. If we show complete ignorance they'll still have suspicions but won't have anything to substantiate them, meaning they will act as if everything is normal."

"So because we're pretending everything is normal they'll do the same?" Jose groaned again. "This is why I never took phycology."

Everyone at the table save Yamada rolled their eyes at his theatrics.

"What about Ichika? Should we tell him the truth?" Everyone turned to their green-haired peer in surprise. Despite the woman's polite demeanor she rarely spoke up during these meetings, preferring to let her more fiery friends take the lead.

Chifuyu answered, "No we won't tell him. I'm not sure he could keep it a secret if he knew."

Asuka smirked and added, "Plus it will be far more amusing to see his face when he finds out."

This brought a few chuckles out of Jose who then asked, "How do you think he's doing with the new boy?"

Before Asuka could answer they heard a shout come from outside the (supposedly soundproofed) conference. Curious they all went to the door and stepped out, only to see Ichika himself running full tilt down the hall with Charles several paces behind him. "Hi Sis, can't talk now! Gotta run, BYE!"

"Wait Ichika! Slow down!" Charles nearly stumbled as he raced to catch up, so focused on his running that he didn't even spare the teachers a glance.

"No way! Don't you remember what's following us?"

Sure enough as Ichika finished his statement a large crowd of girls appeared from around the corner, many of them panting with obvious exhaustion. "There they are!" one of them shouted and then the rest resumed the chase. The teachers all looked on in amusement as the crowd passed them by, though they managed to maintain a strong demeanor until the girls disappeared round the corner. Once they'd all gone half of the teachers broke down laughing, while Chifuyu and Yamada both wore large smiles.

"I suppose that answers my question them, eh?" Jose said as he wiped a few tears from his eyes. "Do you think we should help them?"

Elisabeth stood back up, swiftly settling back into her laid-back gait. "I think this is one thing those boys will have to handle on their own."

(Page Break)

Frank cursed to himself as he turned down yet another hall while running for his life, (metaphorically of course). His attempt to escape with Charles safely after leaving the classroom had failed almost immediately after it began. The two boys had all of five seconds before the crowd of girls attacked them and the race began. Cut to five minutes later and they were still being followed after having run around the 1st floor multiple times and even coming up to the 2nd. Frank had heard that teen girls in large numbers were frantic, but this was ridiculous. Not even passing by the teachers had done anything to slow the girls down. His only hope left was to try and exhaust them without doing the same to Charles. Not an easy task.

He paused for a moment to let the blonde boy catch up with him while also scanning the opposition. The horde had thinned out somewhat over the last few turns as the girls began to get too tired to continue and Frank felt a little hope return. That hope then immediately disappeared as he turned back around and saw that the stragglers had somehow managed to surround them. They were trapped.

Frank looked back and forth between the ends of the hallway, trying desperately to think of a way out of this mess. He saw that Charles was right next to him, slowly regaining his breath after their long run. "How do we get out of this? Got any ideas Charles?"

"I don't know Ichika," the blonde panted. "They're covering the whole hallway from wall to wall. We have nowhere to go."

Frank was about to agree when he realized something. They were both thinking in only two dimensions. There was a third dimension that the girls entrapping them could not cover. The height of the hallway was more than twice the height of any of the girls, leaving plenty of room for him and Charles to escape. The only question was how to get up there.

Frank racked his brain for anything he could use as he watched the girls begin to slowly make their way to them, (they were tired after all). Then he had a stroke of brilliance. His IS could probably get him out of this without too much trouble but the whole thing wouldn't fit in the hall. He had to summon only a part of it. But which part? He then felt a cheeky grin fill his face. He knew exactly what he had to do. Frank turned to Charles and said, "Watch what I do and follow me."

Before the boy could ask him what he meant Frank took off running down the hall towards the group of girls who had been left behind earlier. The girls were stunned by his suicidal charge and remained frozen as they watched him approach. Just as it seemed he was about to barrel straight through them like an American linebacker Frank turned to the wall and ran to it. Right as he was about to hit the wall he jumped and shouted out, "Byakushiki magnetic boots!" A pair of large metal boots appeared on his feet and attached themselves to the metal walls of the hallway. He spared a brief thought of wonder as to why the walls were made of metal but decided to save it for later. Frank then used his built up speed to climb up the sides of the wall and easily bypass the group of gaping girls below him. Once he had cleared the group he dropped back down to the ground and commanded the boots to disappear again.

He laughed to himself as he saw the gaping faces of the girls he had just avoided. Before he could turn and continue running again he was shocked to see Charles come sailing over the group of girls, a pair of bright red wings holding him up in his leap. Unfortunately for them both Charles had jumped right at where Ichika had landed and he had no time to evade, only to scream out, "Oh come o…" The resulting crash sent them both sliding down the hall. Frank tried to ignore the fact that Charles' crotch was in his face and focused on removing the boy from atop him and getting to his feet. That odd feeling from before was back again, stronger than last time but Frank shoved it away with a mental growl. Now was not the time for strange thoughts that made no sense.

"Ugh. Floor, listen, I like you, and I'ma talk to you later, but now is really not the time."

He grabbed up Charles and lead them both down the hall while the girls behind them finally got over their shock and started up the chase again. After a few turns the two boys managed to leave the girls out of sight but ended up in a dead end hallway with nowhere to go. "Well shit," Frank complained. "Now what the hell do we do?"

Charles, who was still lightly panting from the exertion of the past few minutes, straightened up and noticed that there were two doors in the hall, one on either side of the hall. The one on the left was a boy's bathroom while its female counterpart was directly across from it. "We could hide in the bathroom," he suggested quietly.

Frank scrunched his eyebrows at the suggestion then shook his head. "They would expect us to hide out in there. It's too obvious a hiding spot, plus it's in this stupid little ending hallway so there's no way for us to sneak out."

Charles smiled and pointed to the door to the right. "I wasn't talking about the boy's bathroom."

Frank looked at her in surprised then matched her smile with a sly grin. "I like the way you think man. Let's go." With that he grabbed her hand again and dragged her into the bathroom. He didn't think about the fact that he was constantly grabbing Charles' hand and that the feeling in his stomach rejoiced each time he did so. He was getting a bit annoyed with the feeling at this point.

They had just managed to hide themselves in one of the stalls when they heard the shuffling of a large number of feet just outside.

"Where'd they go?" one voice asked.

"The bathroom! They have to be in there!"

"So what do we do?" There was a brief silence as the girls thought for a moment.

"We'll just have to wait for them to come out," the first voice said.

The hall settled down to a bunch of hushed whispers while Frank and Charles were standing in the far stall, wondering what to do now.

"You know what I just realized?"

"What is it Ichika?"

"We're still trapped in here."

"Yes, I noticed that," Charles said with a small blush on his face.

"And eventually some of those girls are going to want to go to the bathroom."

"Yes…"

"So the question is… what the hell do we do when that happens?"

Silence reigned in the bathroom for several moments when the door opened and their worst fears were realized. They pressed up against the wall, trying to will themselves invisible to the visitor. The door of the stall next to them opened and the two boys braced themselves for what would likely be several very uncomfortable minutes. Their concern ended up being misplaced though as the girl who had come in knocked on the stall wall next to them and asked, "Are you two okay in there?"

Frank was very lucky Charles was there to hold him up or else the shock of the girl talking to them would have knocked him off his feet. "HOW DID YOU… Ow! Sorry. How did you know we were in here?

"I heard you talking from just outside."

Several loud bangs echoed in the bathroom as the stall suffered attacks from Frank's forehead.

"Ichika stop it! You'll hurt yourself."

"I deserve to be hurt damn it!" There was a slap. "Ow. Sorry."

An amused voice came from the middle stall. "Should I ask if you guys are okay again? I'm not sure the answer will be the same as a few moments ago."

A few whispers came from the two boys. "Fine, save for us being trapped in a girl's bathroom by a horde of fangirls hanging around outside waiting for us to come out of the other bathroom. You know the usual."

"Ichika…"

"What? I can't help being snarky. It's practically my key trait." On the other side of the stall a hand was raised. "All right. All right! Geez. Can you help us get out of here miss?"

"I think so. It's a little risky though."

"Miss, if you do this for us I will personally worship the ground you walk on for the next week."

"I'll just say thank you."

The girl smiled to herself before exiting the stall and heading to the door. A quick check showed that the other girls were still huddled around the entrance to the boy's bathroom. She leaned back in and whispered, "It's clear. Just follow me and don't do anything suspicious."

Frank and Charles exited the stall, Frank rubbing a hand over his now red cheek. The girl who was helping them had light aquamarine hair and red eyes, which Frank noticed was very similar to Tatenashi's. Perhaps this was her sister. Despite their similar hair and eyes though this girl was very obviously different from the sexy 'fun personified' girl he knew as the 1st year president. This girl wore a very demure expression underneath her thin-framed glasses. She appeared to shrink a bit under the gazes of the two boys and Frank reasoned that she must be very shy. It surprised him that she had been willing to speak to them at all. Maybe curiosity about the 'mysterious' boys had overridden her usual caution. Frank then realized he might be projecting a personality onto the girl and stopped his mind from wandering further.

"Hi," she said quietly, her face sporting a small blush.

Frank smiled reassuringly and asked, "You're Tatenashi's sister Kanzashi right? Pleased to meet you."

She jumped at being recognized. "H… How did you know?"

"You have the same hair and eyes. Plus she talked about you a lot."

The blush grew and her hands started wringing themselves. "S… she did?"

Charles coughed a bit and said, "The uh, the escape?"

"Oh, right." She controlled her blush and walked to the door with a whispered, "Follow me."

The three of them poked their heads out the door and saw the backs of the crowd that had been chasing Frank and Charles. Slowly and quietly they edged their way out past the group and walked to the hallway beyond. Frank marveled at how easy their escape was when none of the girls were paying attention. Just a few minutes later they were all sitting in the café, Frank and Charles profusely thanking their savior as Cecilia and Houki came in.

"There you are!" Cecilia exclaimed. "We've been searching for you for the past ten minutes! Are you guys okay?"

"Fine," Frank assured. "Mostly because of Kanzashi here. Without her we would have been trapped in the girl's bathroom for hours."

Houki glared at him and asked in a stern voice, "And just what were you two doing in the girl's bathroom in the first place?"

Frank's eyes widened as he realized what he'd said and quickly waved his arms back and forth. "It's not what you think! Honest! We had to find someplace to hide and the girls would have suspected the boy's bathroom so we hid in there and we were trapped and there was nothing we could do and…"

He stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Charles smiling at him in amusement. "I think they understand Ichika."

Frank felt his cheeks warming slightly as he mumbled, "Right, yeah." The feeling was back again, this time doing backflips in his gut. He resolved to take some time later to thoroughly examine the feeling so that he could finally get it to leave him alone. It was getting bloody annoying at this point.

Kanzashi quietly stood and said, "I guess I'll be going then. It was nice to meet you all."

Everyone looked at her in confusion. "Why are you leaving?" Frank asked.

"I… um."

Charles waved for her to sit down again. "You can stay here with us if you want."

Cecilia and Houki glanced at each other before nodding with agreement. Kanzashi looked at all of them with worry etched on her face. "Are you sure its okay?"

"Yeah sure," Frank said. "The more the merrier after all."

The blue-haired girl's smile was the largest he had ever seen on her, and he couldn't help but smile back. Plus one friend, he thought.

The next few hours were spent familiarizing everyone with each other. Charles started by talking about his life on a vineyard in France. His father had left his mother just after he was born with no explanation, something that Frank quietly grumbled about. It wasn't all bad though. Charles was able to grow up learning about everything from growing plants and fermenting wine to the basics of wine tasting (in controlled circumstances of course). His mother's position as the heiress of an old money family meant that Charles had plenty of experience with the high up political and social scene in France, something which pleased Cecilia to no end. The two aristocratic heirs spent nearly an hour trading gossip about the annoying older men and women who treated them like two years olds and the many times they had tripped them up by knowing more than expected.

Cecilia spoke of high society in England, mostly complaining about how stuck up the aristocrats and industrialists were, prompting a few knowing looks between Frank and Houki. Her mother was an up and coming industrialist who had helped to set up the British IS industry, making her very influential in Britain's upper echelons. Her father was a mite less impressive though as a rich inheritor married for convenience, and from the somewhat colder tone Cecilia used to describe him he probably wasn't much as a father.

Frank explained his amnesia problem to his two new friends, both of whom looked slightly teared up at his apparent suffering. Suffering. Right. He waved off their worries by talking about how nice it was to have no real preconceptions about the Infinite Stratos system and how it worked. He figured it would give him a nice advantage in figuring out new tactics that could throw off his opponents. Most of the others were less than agreeable with that sentiment, and Frank said that yes, he did miss his memories; he just wasn't going to cry about not having them.

Houki talked about her training in Tabane's secret lab, which was apparently advanced enough that she could be considered for a fencing mastery if she ever wanted to. Frank glared at her upon learning that tidbit, remembering his less than pleasant morning on the wrong end of her sword. She also talked about the scientists and engineers who were constantly working in her sister's lab and how she often had to intervene in the numerous near riots the visitors enacted at Tabane's rather cavalier attitude towards the laws of physics.

Kanzashi mostly stayed quiet, preferring to listen rather than speak. Frank let her maintain her silence, knowing that pushing her too quickly would cause more harm than good. He hoped she would come out of her shell on her own, as any attempt to help her would require her participation.

The afternoon wore on until it was time to head to the dorms and they all went their separate ways. At least at first. When Frank and Houki arrived at their room they were surprised to see Charles was there with Chifuyu leading him. "Hey sis, what are you doing here?"

Chifuyu's eyes pinched a bit at his casualness but she swiftly sported a smile as she said, "I'm here to introduce you to your new roommate. I'm sure you two have already met."

Charles waved shyly at him with a hesitant smile, causing the butterflies in Frank stomach to wake up again. They were ignored as Frank narrowed his gaze at his sister. "But Houki is my roommate. And last I checked these rooms only had two beds."

"That was true. However the Board decided that Charles should room with you for simplicity. Better to have the two boys in the same room than have two different coed rooms."

Frank couldn't really argue with that logic, but he was still annoyed that the Board had decided this without his input. He glanced at Houki to see what she thought of it all and felt a pang at her putout expression. Then he recalled the conversation from earlier in the day and decided to take a stand. "Thanks but no thanks sis. I like having Houki as a roommate and she and I have had no problem living together. I'm sure Charles wouldn't be a problem for whoever he rooms with." He rubbed his chin in thought. "Didn't Cecilia ask for a new roommate? She'd probably be a good person to room with."

Chifuyu quirked an eyebrow at him. "Did this seem like a request to you?" she asked in a harder tone. "The Board has mandated that you and Charles be roomed to together. So you will be." Her glare faded away and smirk replaced it. "That said, if you want to be with Houki so badly, then I suppose she can stay. Have fun figuring that out." She then shoved the three of them in the room and shut the door behind them.

The three teens looked amongst themselves for a moment, Frank with surprised bemusement, Charles with confusion, and Houki with a rather nasty glare.

"So… dibs on the left side of the guys' bed." The resulting swipe in his direction missed due to him leaping past the bed and hiding in the corner next to the wall. "Just to be clear I had not expected this possibility." A pillow smacked the hand that pointed this out and he fell silent.

Houki gave an exasperated sigh and shrugged her shoulders at Charles. "Any objections to the dunderhead's suggestion?"

Charles' face was very red as he realized what Houki was talking about. "I, uh, have never slept with someone else." The color deepened as his words came back to him. "I… I mean I haven't slept in a bed with another person there."

Houki's face softened at seeing her new roommate's embarrassment. "It's not so bad. Me and my sister had to shared a bed when we were little."

Frank poked his out from behind the bed just a bit when saw that Houki was distracted. "I'm good to sleep on the floor for tonight if it bothers you that much. This carpet is actually really comfortable."

Charles gaped at him. "Oh no Ichika that's alright. I can share the bed. You don't need to sleep on the floor."

The black (blue?) haired laughed and said, "Actually I kinda want to try it anyway. Chifuyu told me I used to sleep on the floor sometimes just for the fun of it, pretending I was camping or something. Besides we have enough blankets and pillows that I can make a sleeping bag if I need to. It's no problem." The butterflies disagreed but Frank was ignoring them at this point.

The blush returned much lighter to Charles' face. "Thank you for offering Ichika. That's very kind of you."

Five minutes later everyone was changed into their pajamas (rather, Houki and Charles had changed in the bathroom while Frank just chilled on the floor) and the lights went off for the night. Frank hummed quietly to himself as he settled into his blanket cocoon, loving the warmth and softness even better than the bed. "Jokes on you Chifuyu. I'm going to enjoy sleeping like this from now on." Then awareness faded and he fell into the waiting blackness.

(Page Break)

Beeps and hums were the only sounds audible in the meeting room despite it being full of occupants. No one spoke as they waited for their final member, though not everyone was convinced they should wait for her in the first place.

"We are certain that she was informed about the request correct?" the military voice asked. "She was supposed to be here some time ago."

The baritone groaned and replied, "I sent the message myself. Hopefully she understands the urgency I was trying to conve…"

"Hellooo!"

Though no one could see anything in the absolute dark everyone turned to the sound anyway.

"Bought time you showed up," the older woman's voice said.

"Sorry," the new girl said in a singsong voice. "Security was tighter than usual tonight cause of that new girl from France. I could have gotten here earlier but then I would have left evidence of me leaving, and I remember what you guys told me about that."

A sigh came from the military voice. "Secrecy is paramount. No one can know about our organization. If anyone were to…"

The newcomer interrupted him in a rush, saying, "Yeah yeah, no one can know, blah blah blah. Do you want your information or not?" A chorus of beeps affirmed her. "Alright. Now, I couldn't get too much, kid hasn't been at the school for very long, but from what I can tell he's a boy through and through. No gender changing stuff or cross-dressing. Full-blown dude for sure. As for why he can use an IS, they haven't started testing yet, so there's no way to know. But here's something I managed to pick up in an audio recording. The boy isn't actually Ichika."

Several voices started clamoring away with questions before the baritone voice silenced them with a shout. "Please explain," he asked calmly.

After letting her giggling from the chaos fade the informant continued. "Turns out the boy's body is Ichika's but his mind isn't. From what I could gather he's some kid from thirty years ago who was accidentally dragged here when the IS core activated. Fuck knows how that happened but there you go."

None of the voices knew how to respond to that revelation, but the topic was dropped when the older female voice said, "Earlier you said that security was tight at the Academy because of a new student from France. Do you mean the second male pilot that we also asked about in our message?"

"Um, did any of you listen to what I said earlier? I never said it was a dude." More clamoring came from the voices before the female voice shouted them down. "Yeah, the French are completely bullshitting about this 'Charles' being a boy. Even better is that the teachers at the Academy already know and are letting her go anyway to help the French IS industry get back on its feet." A vocal smirk entered her words as she said, "And you guys think the Academy needs us to lead them by the hand. Pfft."

The baritone voice let the other voices argue for a time before calling a halt and saying, "Enough. Clearly we need no longer discuss the situation with the French representative, as her being a girl eliminates the only part of her that was important. Ichika is the important one here."

"Actually his name is Frank. Frank Martin if I remember correctly."

"An American?" military questioned.

"Probably."

"That may be a problem," baritone said. "Americans on average are far less predictable than Japanese. We will have to keep a _very_ close eye on him as he progresses. Anyway, excellent report my dear. Please keep watching this Frank's development and get us any data you can on the Academy's research into his unique ability. Report on a weekly basis if possible, or whenever it is safe if it is too dangerous. Remember, secrecy first."

"Wil Du sir!"

Military growled angrily as he yelled, "What have I told you about using names?!"

His only response was a quick giggle as the informant left the meeting.

The female voice scoffed and said, "Now that that's over with perhaps we can move on?"


End file.
